Ambient outside = 53 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Apple from Top Foods = 135 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 128 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 111 nanosieverts per hour
Blog
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Nuclear Reactors 77 – Nuclear Breeder Reactors 18 – History of Soviet-Russian Breeder Reactors 3
My recent posts have been about breeder reactors which generate more fissile material than they consume. There is renewed global interest in breeder reactors for the production of nuclear fuel and the destruction of nuclear waste. Today’s post is the third in a series about the history and current status of breeder reactors in the Soviet Union and Russia.
At the U.N. Millennium General Conference in 2000, Russian President Putin revealed his intentions to expand the fleet of Russian nuclear reactors. Although light water reactors were the primary focus, work on fast breeder reactors was also part of the new program. The first stage of the fast breeder project was going to be the construction of a few reactors based on the BN-800 design. There were four goals for the fast breeder project:
“1. Develop a closed uranium-plutonium fuel cycle;
2. Produce chain-reacting uranium-233 from neutron capture in thorium
blankets as a potential fuel for thermal-neutron reactors;
3. Fission the minor transuranics, neptunium, americium and curium; and,
4. Significantly reduce highly radioactive waste volume for a final geological
repository.”
In 2005, the Russian Duma received a proposal for the construction of ten fast breeder reactors to create fuel to replace diminishing uranium reserves in Russia.
A lot of experiments were performed in Russia over the years to test fast breeder reactor design. Safety was a primary concern. After much work on the sodium cooling system, it was decided that the addition a secondary cooling loop was necessary. This made the cost of construction of the BN-600 about fifty percent more than a conventional light water reactor. The cost estimations for the BN-800 were around two and a half billion dollars which is about ten percent higher than the cost of a light water reactor. The cost of electricity generated by the BN-800 will be much greater than the cost of electricity generated by the light water reactors. Construction of the first BN-800 reactor started in 2006 but had continuing problems with funding. It was originally intended to replace the BN-600 which is slated to be shut off permanently in 2020. The BN-800 is still under construction with operation slated to begin in 2015.
In 2010, the head of Russian state company Rosatom suggested an international cooperation program for fast breeder technology. “I would like to propose that the states concerned launch an international program of multilateral cooperation in the research and development of fast-breeder reactors, including safety concerns. Plans were outlined for a multifunctional fast breeder research reactor for “broad cooperation, both on a multilateral and bilateral basis” which could be built by 2017.
In 2012, the BN-1200 fast breeder reactor was approved for construction at Beloyarsk. It will be based on the BN-800 design and it will replace the BN-600. Also in 2012, the Chinese contracted to buy two BN-800 units from the Russian company Rosatom. They are to be built in the city of Sanming in Fujian Province.
Russia currently plans to construct eight fast breeder reactors and an advanced fuel reprocessing facility. This will allow Russia to become a source of fuel for the world’s nuclear reactors as the world’s production of uranium declines. While this will be beneficial for Russia it may not be so beneficial for the rest of the world. Russia has already reduced gas and oil supplies to European countries during international disputes. If Russia becomes the source of nuclear fuel for the world, it might decide to punish other countries by cutting off supplies of nuclear fuel.
BN-800 reactor construction:
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Radiation News Roundup October 29, 2013
TEPCO seeks to rotate more workers to Fukushima nuclear plant. ajw.asahi.com
The groundwater level at Fukushima reached the ground surface on the seaside of the Unit 2 and Unit 3 reactors after the heavy rain of 10/20/2013. fukushima-diary.com
Ex-International Atomic Energy Agency deputy chief says that he thinks that Iran is two weeks away from creating weapons grade uranium. timesofisrael.com
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission bans two former Dresden nuclear plant operators from nuclear sites after they conspired in a robbery plot. nuclearstreet.com
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Geiger Readings for October 29 2013
Ambient office = 117 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 105 nanosieverts per hour
Apple from Top Foods = 178 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 68 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 63 nanosieverts per hour
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409 – Nuclear Reactors 76 – Nuclear Breeder Reactors 17 – History of Soviet-Russian Breeder Reactors 2
My recent posts have been about breeder reactors which generate more fissile material than they consume. There is renewed global interest in breeder reactors for the production of nuclear fuel and the destruction of nuclear waste. Today’s post is the second in a series about the history and current status of breeder reactors in the Soviet Union and Russia.
Before the BN-350 reactor began operations in 1972, the Soviets were working on a second fast neutron reactor with a higher power capacity. This reactor was called the BN-600 because it was intended to deliver six hundred megawatts. The Soviets wanted to use their experience with the BN-350 early operations to help refine their design for the BN-600. The BN-350 and the BN-600 reactors were seen as prototypes that would lead to commercial fast breeder power reactors.
The BN-600 was designed with a second sodium cooling system between the primary core cooling system and the steam generator. The heat exchangers, the piping, the coolant pumps and the reactor all sit in a pool of liquid sodium. The fuel mixture for the BN-600 was uranium enriched to about twenty percent. The common fuel enrichment in the regular Soviet reactors was about four percent. There is no separate containment vessel for the whole system. During construction and testing up to 1997, there were twenty seven sodium leaks with fourteen sodium fires. There was damage to the plant but no fatalities. The reactor was put into full operation in 1980 at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station.
Design work on the next reactor in the series, the BN-800, began in 1983. It followed the designs for the BN-350 and BN-600 which had worked satisfactorily. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1987, the design for the BN-800 was completely revised. It was also revised extensively in the 1990s as standards for reactor design evolved. One major change between the BN-600 and the BN-800 had to do with the fuel mix. The BN-800 was going to burn natural uranium mixed with weapons grade plutonium from old warhead in a closed fuel cycle. They said that there was no intention to reprocess the fuel. The Soviet Union had planned to construct five BN-800s in the Urals. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the Soviet nuclear program went into decline.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian economy was in serious trouble and could not afford to put money into new reactor construction. In addition, fast neutron reactors just could not compete economically with Russia’s light water and thermal neutron reactors for power generation. There were discovery of new deposits of high grade uranium in the Soviet client states during the 1960s and the 1970s that also reduced the interest in the development of fast neutron breeder reactors to supply nuclear fuel. In the 1990s, the prospect for commercial fast neutron breeder reactors being built in Russia faded.
The Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station:
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Geiger Readings for October 28 2013
Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 117 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 96 nanosieverts per hour
Iceberg lettuce from Top Foods = 251 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 95 nanosieverts per hour
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Radiation News Roundup October 27, 2013
Plutonium from Fukushima is coming from the reactors and not from the spent fuel pools. enenews.com
Japanese Prime Minister Abe supports Japan’s nuclear future. japantimes.co.jp
Top leaders from Japan and Pacific island nations will hold a summit in a city near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2015. my.sports.yahoo.com
Illinois’ distinction as the state with the most nuclear waste worries activist. chicago.cbslocal.com
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Geiger Readings for October 27 2013
Ambient office = 67 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 131 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 135 nanosieverts per hour
Iceberg lettuce from Top Foods = 132 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 81 nanosieverts per hour
