Russia approves construction of new sodium-cooled nuclear reactor

Russia’s nuclear regulator Rostechnadzor has issued a construction permit for a new nuclear unit at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant. Preparatory construction work on the sodium-cooled nuclear reactor is therefore likely to begin this year. The BN-1200M unit will use MOX nuclear fuel, produced by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from light-water reactors. The country plans to bring the new unit into operation within ten years.

Russian energy company Rosatom announced that it had received a permit from the nuclear regulator to build the fifth unit at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant. The new unit is to be equipped with a BN-1200M sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor. Its expected installed capacity is 1200 MW (gross).

“The authorities’ positive conclusions are extremely important for the implementation of the project. They allow us to start preparatory construction work this year,” said Alexander Andreyev, a representative of Rosatom.

The Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant has two operating BN-600 and BN-800 units (units 3 and 4). The plant’s first two units, dating from the 1960s, stopped generating electricity in 1983 and 1990. The third unit entered operation in 1981 and the fourth in 2016.

Rosatom expects the fifth unit to enter commercial operation in 2034, with official construction due to begin in 2027. The company plans for the facility to have a 60-year operating life.

Using reprocessed nuclear fuel

BN fast breeder reactors can use MOX fuel (Mixed Oxide) containing uranium and plutonium oxides. Plutonium oxides can be obtained by reprocessing spent fuel from light-water reactors. The uranium oxides come from depleted uranium, a by-product of the production of conventional nuclear fuel. The fourth unit at the Beloyarsk plant now operates with nuclear fuel that is 60% MOX fuel.

 “Installing a prototype of a serial power unit with a BN-1200M reactor at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant will make it possible to take another important step towards two-component nuclear power and fully realise the environmental and economic benefits of a closed fuel cycle. The plant’s staff have accumulated extensive experience operating the unique BN-600 and BN-800 fast sodium-cooled reactors, so it is logical that the BN-1200M prototype will be built here,” said Ivan Sidorov, director of the Beloyarsk NPP .