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Rosatom to make remix fuel for VVER-1000 reactors
- 4 years ago (2020-08-27)
- David Flin
Rosatom has said that it will make remix (regenerated mixture) uranium-plutonium fuel for VVER-1000 reactors. According to Rosatom, the remix fuel will be made at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC), part of the TVEL Fuel Company.
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Rosatom will modernise the SCC factory, resulting in a new production line to assemble VVER-1000 fuel rods and fuel bundles for the TVS-2M model. The uranium-plutonium fuel pellet project is scheduled for completion in 2023.
The remix fuel matrix is made from a mixture of reprocessed uranium and plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel, with the addition of small amounts of enriched uranium. Rosatom said the remix fuel has a low plutonium content of up to 1.5 per cent. As a result, remix fuel assemblies behave in the reactor core in a very similar way to standard fuel assemblies. Rosatom said that this means remix fuel can be used without any changes in reactor design or additional safety measures.
Three TVS-2M fuel assemblies, each containing six experimental remix fuel rods, among 312 rods in one bundle, have been undergoing pilot operation at unit 3 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant in Russia since 2016. The third 18-month cycle started in 2020. According to Rosatom, the fuel bundles with the experimental remix fuel rods have successfully completed the first two cycles.
Rosatom said: “The next step should be loading of full remix fuel assemblies in a reactor. It is planned to launch fabrication of such fuel at the SCC.”