TOMSK, Oct 14 – RIA Tomsk. Spent nuclear fuel (SNF), which will be to Russia from France, will
be used at the Siberian Chemical Plant in the Tomsk region already in processed
form, uranium-plutonium fuel pellets for SCP will be supplied by the
Zhelznogorsk mining and chemical combine, according to a Rosatom release
published on Thursday on the company's website.
Earlier, the Greenpeace website
published information about the importation of regenerated uranium into Siberia
at the end of 2021. It will be imported by the Orano company. The fuel is the
result of reprocessing spent uranium from French nuclear power plants.
Greenpeace considers the imported recovered uranium not as raw material for
producing new nuclear fuel, but as "nuclear waste," which it is
forbidden to bring into Russia. On October 13, activists held a protest against
the contract.
"Supplies of regenerated uranium
from France to Russia are aimed at its further use in the nuclear power
industry of Russia, it will reduce the environmental burden of the nuclear
industry and will also help solve the problems of sustainable development.
<...> The use of regenerated uranium will save as much natural uranium as
would have had to be mined for several years," Rosatom's position is
quoted in the release.
The contract with Orano calls for the
supply of regenerated uranium "for the internal needs of the Russian
nuclear power industry. The regenerated uranium will be used as raw material in
nuclear fuel production programs at the facilities of Rosatom's fuel company
TVEL," the state corporation explained. The SNF will be used at the Beloyarsk
Nuclear Power Station, the SCP and Mining and Chemical Combine (Zheleznogorsk).
"The Siberian Chemical Combine has
already commissioned equipment at the sites where pilot fuel assemblies with
plutonium-uranium REMIX fuel for the VVER-1000 reactor are manufactured.
Fabrication of the first REMIX fuel assemblies (fuel elements - Ed.) is being
done in cooperation with the Mining and Chemical Combine (Zheleznogorsk,
Krasnoyarsk Krai), which has started production of plutonium-uranium fuel
pellets," reads the press release.
According to Rosatom's website, the SCP
commissioned equipment at sites that manufacture pilot fuel pellets with
plutonium-uranium REMIX fuel for VVER-1000 reactors. The fuel rods based on
REMIX-fuel will be produced in the TVS-2M design (one of the basic fuel designs
for VVER-1000). Fabrication of the first REMIX fuel assemblies is organized in
cooperation with Mining and Chemical Combine. The first batch has already
passed the incoming inspection at the SCP.
It was previously reported that the
production of fuel rods with the new nuclear REMIX fuel was mastered at the SCP
in 2016. It was also reported that it was decided to create a Center for
research and development of technologies for working with mixed nitride
uranium-plutonium fuel on the basis of the Mining and Chemical Combine, which
was liquidated in 2017 and was engaged in disposal of special products and
reprocessing and purification of highly enriched weapon-grade uranium, at the
SCP.