Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the reprocessing and recycling of used nuclear fuel, for reuse, is a key part of efforts to create a closed nuclear fuel cycle.
Announcing the project, Rosatom said it was looking at a design with modularity, for future capacity expansion. It said the first module would have a capacity of 400 tonnes of fuel per year. The aim is to reach that capacity within a decade. “The plant will become the largest spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Russia, capable of processing fuel from both thermal and fast reactors,” it said.
Andrey Nikipelov, Deputy Director General for Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Solutions at Rosatom, said: “Industrial nuclear recycling technologies and a developed infrastructure are not only a solution to a pressing environmental challenge in our country. Global reserves of spent nuclear fuel, reaching 360,000 tonnes, and the active construction of domestically designed nuclear power plants abroad provide Russia with a unique opportunity to cement its leadership in the global nuclear solutions market.
“Expanding our capacity and developing new technologies in radiochemistry will allow us to move beyond providing one-time services to other countries and move toward developing a comprehensive strategic partnership. This partnership is based on the principles of environmentally responsible nuclear energy: reducing our carbon footprint and minimising waste.”
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Vasily Tinin, Director of State Policy for Radioactive Waste, Spent Nuclear Fuel, and Decommissioning of Nuclear and Radiation-Hazardous Facilities at Rosatom, said: “Once operational, the infrastructure we are creating will, in the long term, allow for the repeated use of recycled nuclear materials in the fuel cycle and meet the raw material needs of fourth-generation energy systems.”
Russia’s lead-cooled BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor is part of a project to enable a closed nuclear fuel cycle. The 300 MWe unit will be the main facility of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex at the Siberian Chemical Combine site. The complex will demonstrate an on-site closed nuclear fuel cycle with a facility for the fabrication/re-fabrication of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride nuclear fuel, as well as a used fuel reprocessing facility – with Rosatom saying lessons and technologies from there would be part of developing the new facility.
