The largest in Russia silicon complex to be installed at TPU reactor

TOMSK, Jun 18 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) install the first complex in Russia for doping silicon with a diameter of more than 200 millimeters at its Nuclear Research Reactor in 2020; this will make it possible to produce up to 7 tons of silicon per year, which will be about 5% of the global production, the reactor manager Artem Naymushin told RIA Tomsk.

It was previously reported that in 2019 TPU received a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the amount of 87.5 million rubles for the modernization of the TPU Nuclear Research Reactor. Until the end of 2020, new scientific complexes will be installed at the reactor.

What is silicon for

As Naimushin said, without a neutron doping of silicon it is impossible to make a single power electrical device: silicon is the raw material for the entire semiconductor industry, and doping allows impurities to be introduced into it to change electrical properties.

"Silicon consumption is growing in the world, which is associated with the development of electric vehicles, solar panels, windmills, and so on. Industry needs a powerful large-diameter conductor - silicon. The most advanced way to get it – is at the reactor. Now the TPU reactor equipment allows to produce up to 5 tons of silicon, this is about 3% of total world production", – he said.

A new complex with a capacity of up to 7 tons (about 5% of the total world production) will be installed at the reactor thanks to a large-scale modernization program under a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation until the end of summer.

"The only complex in Russia for the production of silicon with a diameter of more than 200 millimeters. In the first year or two it will be in trial operation, because it is a unique thing, no one has worked with it. <...> We have a unique situation when we irradiate silicon for almost the whole world. The main buyer is China, where most of the world's electronics production is concentrated", - Naimushin told.

According to him, similar complexes also operate at reactors abroad - in Germany, Australia and Belgium. In Russia, there are still no complexes operating on such a large scale.

The equipment is made by special order by Russian and foreign manufacturers. The first containers with installation parts arrived at Polytechnic University the day before.

In addition to the silicon direction, other scientific areas of reactor operation will be strengthened within the framework of the modernization: polytechnics will install new complexes for the production of radiopharmaceuticals, isotopes, neutron capture therapy, and so on.

“50 million have already been spent out of the 87.5 million grant. By the end of September 2020, we’ll use the remaining ones. Despite the pandemic, equipment suppliers promise to deliver the complexes on time”, – Naimushin concluded. 

About the TPU reactor

The TPU Nuclear Research Reactor - is the only operating university nuclear reactor in Russia. It was launched in 1967 and has been upgraded several times since then. In total, more than 650 million rubles have been allocated for modernization, renewal of the scientific and technological equipment fleet over the last 10 years.

As it specified on the website of the university, the reactor - is a unique educational platform. Every year 430 students are trained at the reactor, including foreign students (among the Russian operating reactors only in Tomsk can train citizens of other states).

Research in the field of nuclear medicine is being carried out at the reactor. TPU is one of the leading Russian centers of development and production of radiopharmaceuticals - drugs containing radioisotopes. On the basis of the reactor scientists get a diagnostic isotope of technetium-99m. There is also the only production of scarce radioactive phosphorus-32 in Russia.