At the Mining & Chemical Combine (GKhK – Gorno Khimiheskovo Kombinata) in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory, construction of the second launch complex of the Test & Demonstration Centre (ODTs – Opitno Demonstratsinnovo Tsentra) for nuclear reprocessing has been completed. Permission has been obtained to commission the facility following a meeting with of the State Duma Committee on Energy.
Development of the pilot demonstration centre has been underway since 2010 as part of the Federal Target Programme Nuclear & Radiation Safety. In 2015, the first launch complex was commissioned, which is a chain of research hot chambers with an analytical laboratory, where scientific research is being carried out to test technology for processing used fuel and handling radwaste. Construction of the second launch complex continued, the key task of which, is to obtain the initial data and verify the unique equipment for designing a high-power plant for processing used fuel.
Deputies led by the Chairman of State Duma Energy Committee, Nikolai Shulginov, as well as leading industry experts and members of the public visited the GKhK as part of a technical tour. They discussed policy issues related to handling used fuel, as well as possible measures of state support for the development of radiochemical technologies to support closure of the nuclear fuel cycle.
“We visited the used nuclear fuel management cluster at the Mining & Chemical Combine and saw impressive achievements in this area,” said Shulginov. “We are open to discussion and are ready to continue to provide the necessary support for initiatives to develop used fuel reprocessing to close the nuclear fuel cycle and ensure Russia’s
Rosatom’s Director of State Policy in the field of radioactive waste, used fuel and decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities, Vasily Tinin said: “Today, the pilot demonstration centre is the only large-scale and universal platform in the world for improving technologies to turn used nuclear fuel into a new resource. The first launch complex was built in 2015. Further development of production – the second stage – will allow the processing of used fuel on an industrial scale. In future, this will make it possible to stop the accumulation and minimise the disposal of radioactive waste, and will also bring closer the transition to Generation IV energy technologies that will make nuclear energy essentially renewable.
Based on the results of the visit, a decision was made to support the development of the Strategic Industrial Programme for the Development of the Radiochemical Direction. Rosatom also recommended including this in the new version of the Fundamentals of State Policy. The Strategic Industrial Programme for the Development of the Radiochemical Direction, which must be completed by Rosatom by the end of 2024, will become the driver for the development of a two-component nuclear energy system with thermal and fast reactors operating in a closed nuclear fuel cycle. Nuclear recycling technologies will allow the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel and its use in the production of fresh fuel. This will radically reduce the volume of nuclear waste generated and its level of activity, as well as expand the nuclear power base by including materials not currently used in the fuel cycle – in particular, depleted uranium and plutonium.
