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Russia’s Mining & chemical Combine (MCC - part of Rosatom) in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk) has completed all R&D on a project for a molten salt research reactor (IZhSR - Issledovatelskovo Zhidko Solevovo Reaktora) MCC Director Dmitry Kolupaev told Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev Rosatom Alexei Likhachev during his visit to the enterprise that the key stages had been completed. A preliminary design has been developed that describes the fundamental decisions required for the physical launch of the IZhSR. This was achieved in cooperation with many other Russian organisations.

Date: Saturday, 03 February 2024
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsrussia-completes-rd-on-molten-salt-research-reactor-project-11486550

A steel reactor base plate and the lower tier of the containment has been installed in what is being called a landmark moment for construction of the BREST-OD-300 generation IV fast neutron reactor in Russia.

Date: Thursday, 18 January 2024
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/First-lead-cooled-fast-neutron-reactor-s-installat

Public hearings have been held in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region on justification of a licence to use nuclear materials during research to be undertaken by the BN-800 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor at unit 4 of the Beloyarsk NPP. The materials made available for discussion included a preliminary environmental impact assessment.

Date: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsrussias-bn-800-fast-reactor-prepares-to-burn-minor-actinides-11347674

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Savannah River Site (SRS) says the H Canyon facility recently initiated actions to recycle a small amount of used highly enriched uranium (HEU) stored in the Site’s H Area in order to down-blend it into high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU). “The projected demand for HALEU far exceeds the current supply,” said HALEU Programme Manager Jeff Hasty for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site’s managing and operating contractor.

Date: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newshaleu-production-planned-for-savannah-river-site-as-clean-up-continues-10731144

Test is part of Moscow’s efforts to close nuclear fuel cycle Remix fuel is made from uranium and plutonium recovered from used fuel. Courtesy Tvel. Six full fuel assemblies with uranium-plutonium Remix fuel rods have been loaded into the VVER-1000 reactor core during a scheduled outage at Unit 1 of the Balakovo nuclear power station in Russia.

State nuclear fuel company Tvel said each Remix assembly contains only fuel rods with a mixture of uranium and plutonium recovered from spent nuclear fuel, with 312 fuel rods in each assembly.

Since 2016, three fuel assemblies, each containing six experimental Remix fuel rods, have been undergoing pilot operation at Unit 3 at Balakovo, about 900km southeast of Moscow. The third 18-month cycle of their irradiation began in 2020 and was completed earlier this year.

Remix fuel is made from uranium and plutonium recovered from used fuel. It is topped up with low-enriched uranium to give a fuel that performs within the same parameters as fuel made only from fresh low-enriched uranium. Remix can be used in existing reactors without changes to their design or additional safety measures.

Date: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/six-remix-fuel-assemblies-loaded-at-balakovo-1-vver-12-2-2021

Russia is ready to test a batch of fuel assemblies made from recycled uranium and plutonium. The REMIX fuel concept could be used with any reactor and promises a step-change in resource efficiency and waste reduction, according to Rosatom.

Date: Friday, 12 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/REMIX-fuel-ready-for-final-test

Russia has loaded about one-third of the reactor core of the BN-800 fast neutron reactor at Beloyarsk-4 with commercial mixed oxide uranium-plutonium (MOX) fuel, state nuclear operator Rosenergoatom said.

Rosenergoatom said the move to MOX fuel at Beloyarsk-4 brings the Russian nuclear industry “one step closer” to its goal of closing the fuel cycle.

It said that for the first time during a planned outrage, which began on 8 January 2021 and concluded this week, only MOX fuel was loaded into the reactor.

Staff loaded 160 MOX fuel assemblies to complement the first 18 which were loaded in January 2020. There are now 178 MOX assemblies from a total of 565 in the reactor core.

Date: Friday, 26 February 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/russia-one-step-closer-to-goal-of-closing-nuclear-fuel-cycle-2-4-2021

169 assemblies scheduled to be loaded into core in January A MOX fuel assembly for the Beloyarsk-4 nuclear power plant in Russia. Photo courtesy Tvel. Russia has manufactured the first full reload batch of fresh uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for the Beloyarsk-4 BN-800 fast neutron reactor.

State nuclear fuel company Tvel said the 169 fuel assemblies, manufactured at the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk, eastern Siberia, have been accepted by nuclear operator Rosenergoatom, which has confirmed the consignment is ready for shipment.

Tvel said the refuelling of Beloyarsk-4, near Yekaterinburg in central Russia, is scheduled for January 2021.

The 820-MW BN-800 reactor began commercial operation in October 2016 with a hybrid core, partially loaded with uranium fuel produced by Elemash, Tvel’s fabrication facility in Elektrostal, near Moscow, and partially with experimental MOX fuel bundles manufactured at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, southwest Russia.

Date: Friday, 24 July 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/first-full-batch-of-mox-fuel-produced-for-beloyarsk-4-fast-neutron-reactor-7-4-2020

Transition to begin in first half of 2021 The Beloyarsk nuclear power station in Russia. Photo courtesy Rosenergoatom. Russia’s BN-800 fast neutron reactor at Beloyarsk-4 is expected to fully switch to commercial uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel use in 2022, according to a statement by state nuclear operator Rosenergoatom.

The development, a first for Russia, will be an “important step” towards closing the fuel cycle, the statement said.

Rosenergoatom said transition to MOX fuel is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2021, with loading of one-third of the reactor’s core with the new fuel.

In January 2020, operators loaded the first batch of commercial MOX fuel, consisting of 18 assemblies, at Beloyarsk-4. The plant has been since operating a mix of conventional uranium-based fuel and MOX assemblies.

Date: Saturday, 13 June 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/beloyarsk-4-fast-reactor-set-to-fully-run-on-mox-fuel-in-2022-6-5-2020