© Валерий Доронин, пресс-служба мэрии Томска
TOMSK, Jun 3 – RIA Tomsk. The
Siberian Chemical Plant (SCP, part of the Rosatom's fuel company TVEL)
has commissioned equipment for the production of pilot fuel assemblies
(FAs) with uranium-plutonium REMIX fuel; the fabrication of the first
FAs was organized jointly with the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical
Combine (MCC), the SCP website reported.
It was previously
reported that the Siberian Chemical Plant was planning to launch a
pilot production of REMIX fuel by 2023, consisting of reprocessed spent
nuclear fuel and enriched uranium (REMIX is regenerated mixture). The
fuel is an innovative Russian development for light-water thermal
reactors, which form the basis of today's nuclear power industry.
"At
the Siberian Chemical Plant the equipment of the areas where pilot fuel
assemblies with plutonium-uranium REMIX fuel for VVER-1000 reactor will
be manufactured has been put into operation... The first REMIX fuel
assemblies are being fabricated in cooperation with the Zheleznogorsk
Mining and Chemical Combine which has started production of
plutonium-uranium fuel pellets. The first batch was delivered from
Zheleznogorsk to Seversk and successfully passed the incoming
inspection", – says the report.
It is explained that
experimental fuel pellets and fuel assemblies based on REMIX fuel will
be produced in the TVS-2M design, which is one of the basic designs of
VVER-1000 fuel. It was previously reported that since 2016, in the
VVER-1000 reactor at Balakovo NPP Unit 3, fuel elements with REMIX fuel
have undergone two stages of an experiment on their industrial use. In
2020, the third 18-month cycle of irradiation of the fuel began.
© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский
"A
total of several full-scale TVS-2M with REMIX fuel are planned to be
produced in 2021. The first irradiation cycles of REMIX fuel elements at
Balakovo NPP have shown good results, with testing of full-scale FAs an
important step in the transition to wide commercial implementation of
this technology and in case of confirmed demand from the market", – TVEL
Vice President for R&D Alexander Ugryumov is quoted as saying.
According
to him, in terms of demand, the talk is about creating full-scale
industrial production of REMIX fuel at one of Rosatom's enterprises.
Earlier
it was reported that the production of fuel elements with the new
nuclear REMIX fuel was mastered at the Siberian Chemical Plant in 2016.
It was also reported that it was decided to create a center for research
and development of technologies for working with mixed
uranium-plutonium nitride fuel at the Chemical and Metallurgical Plant,
which was liquidated in 2017, and which was engaged in recycling of
special products and reprocessing and purification of highly enriched
weapon-grade uranium.