New Russian Mixed Nitride Uranium-Plutonium Fuel Ready For Use - Rosatom

The new mixed nitride uranium-plutonium fuel developed by Russian scientists is ready to be used, Evgeniy Adamov, Russian nuclear state corporation Rosatom's scientific supervisor for the sectoral project Proryv, said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) The new mixed nitride uranium-plutonium fuel developed by Russian scientists is ready to be used, Evgeniy Adamov, Russian nuclear state corporation Rosatom's scientific supervisor for the sectoral project Proryv, said on Tuesday.

"The level [of the fuel's development] has now reached a sufficient point for it to start being used in the pilot and demonstration reactor in Seversk ... We expect that next year, active construction of the reactor will begin. The construction of a mixed fuel production plant is coming to an end," Adamov said at a scientific conference.

The Proryv project aims at closing the nuclear fuel cycle, which is an industrial process of producing electricity from uranium and plutonium that starts with mining for ore and ends with the disposal of nuclear waste.

Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is referred to as closing the nuclear fuel cycle. Russian scientists are experimenting on fast neutron reactors to achieve this goal in order to expand the fuel base and reduce radioactive waste.

As part of the project, Rosatom will start building the BREST-300 lead-cooled fast reactor in 2018, to be completed by 2025.