Installation of the foundation slab for Russia’s Brest-OD-300 demonstration lead-cooled fast reactor at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC, part of Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL) in Seversk, Tomsk region, cost RUB120 million ($1.9m) less than expected due to improvement of reinforcement and concreting technologies, according to the SCC website. Since 2011, SCC has been responsible for implementing the Breakthrough (Proryv) project to create a facility (ODEK) to demonstrate closed fuel cycle technology. ODEK will include a module for fabrication and refabrication of nuclear fuel, the Brest reactor and a module for reprocessing irradiated fuel. In September 2022, a steel plate base of the reactor was delivered to the site weighing 160 tons and 26 metres in diameter.
“With the help of the tools of the Rosatom production system, the team SCC and Concern Titan-2 JSC managed to improve the technologies for reinforcing and concreting the foundation slab of the reactor building,” the website noted. The developed and applied technological and organisational solutions made it possible to reduce the installation time of the foundation plate of the reactor by a third and reduce the cost of work.
The steel base for Brest-300 was manufactured in St Petersburg and transported to the region along the northern sea route. The construction of the reactor is planned to be completed in 2026. The commissioning of all ODEK facilities is expected in 2029. Rosatom has invested RUB211.3 billion for development of the complex.
Image: The two halves of the base plate for the reactor which were delivered at the end of September (courtesy of TVEL)
