Why Rosatom’s new laid-down reactor is the safest in the world, and when will it enter series
Russian giant Rosatom is rightfully considered the world leader in nuclear energy and a number of other high-tech areas, as evidenced by an extensive portfolio of foreign orders
Rosatom was the first to master the serial production of the latest modern third generation fast breeder reactors.
Now our concern has begun construction of the world’s first power unit of the next generation – the fourth.
A new power unit is being built in the city of Seversk in the Tomsk region.
The installation was named Brest OD 300.
The new reactor operates on fast neutrons and has a lead coolant.
Rosatom considers this # type of reactor to be completely safe. Accidents like Chernobyl and the Fukushima disaster using the Brest reactor are excluded.
The new reactor was based on the principle of natural safety.
Foreign competitors of Rosatom do not possess such technology and continue to build thermal neutron reactors in which water serves as a coolant.
The advantage of fast reactors is the ability to reuse spent nuclear fuel as new fuel, thereby achieving a closed cycle.
In addition to being economical, fast reactors are safer than existing thermal reactors. The possibility of unpredictable and uncontrollable acceleration of neutrons is excluded, which is equivalent to the loss of the coolant.
The risk of a parazirconium reaction that provoked the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is also excluded.
The work on the design of the fourth generation reactor has been carried out by Rosatom since 2010. Rosatom plans to commission the Brest power unit by the end of 2025.
One of the important advantages of the new reactor will be its ability to run on fuel # uranium 238, which is much cheaper and more widespread on our planet, in contrast to the rare uranium 235.
In the next few years, Rosatom plans to organize the serial production of the newest Brest reactors in Russia, and after 2030 start exporting them to foreign partners.
