Specialists at JSC Research Institute NPO LUCH in Podolsk (part of Rosatom’s Scientific Division) have completed development of experimental industrial technology for the production of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) using equipment developed and manufactured by Russian companies.
The pilot installation included four technological sections and more than 20 positions using unique equipment developed and manufactured by Russian companies, including nuclear industry organizations. In terms of productivity (batch volume) and equipment composition, the installation is comparable to the production line of a future fuel plant. There is also analytical equipment and installations for monitoring the quality of HTGR fuel manufacturing, including a Russian X-ray tomograph for online monitoring of the uniformity of distribution of microfuel elements in the fuel compact.
NPO LUCH has created an import-independent pilot-industrial line for the production of HTGR fuel with a design capacity of 250,000 fuel pellets a year. Its launch in the future will guarantee the fuel supply for the main power unit of a NPP with a HTGR.
The creation of a pilot industrial line for the production of HTGR fuel allows us to provide a reliable foundation for the further development and implementation of the project for the construction in the future of a pilot NPP with HTGR,” said Andrey Mokrushin, Deputy Director General for Science at NPO LUCH. “In addition, the creation and industrial development of domestic technology for the production of microfuel with multilayer protective coatings (TRI-structural ISOtropic – TRISO fuel) opens up prospects for the use of this type of nuclear fuel in other innovative reactor projects with increased safety.”
The production of pilot batches of microfuel elements and fuel pellets is planned for 2025, some of which will be used for life-span reactor tests and post-reactor research (as part of the pilot production of HTGR fuel). HTGR fuel consists of a spherical fuel core with a multilayer protective coating (TRISO fuel), placed in a graphite matrix and packaged in cylindrical fuel cells.
