Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The construction of a 300 MW nuclear power unit with an innovative lead coolant BREST-OD-300 fast reactor has begun at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM) in Seversk, Russia’s Tomsk region.

The event was attended by Tomsk regional governor Sergei Zhvachkin, ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, Kurchatov Institute President Mikhail Kovalchuk and other guests. Russian Academy of Sciences President Alexander Sergeev, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Director General William Magwood sent in video addresses.

“The nuclear power industry’s resource base will practically become inexhaustible thanks to the infinite reprocessing of nuclear fuel. At the same time, the future generations will be spared the problem of accumulating spent nuclear fuel. The successful implementation of this project will allow our country to become the world’s first owner of the nuclear power technology which fully meets the principles of sustainable development in terms of environment, accessibility, reliability, and efficient use of resources. Today, we reaffirm our reputation as a leader in world progress in the nuclear technologies, that offers humanity unique solutions aimed at improving people’s lives,” said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM.

“The implementation of the ‘Breakthrough’ project embraces not just development of innovative reactors, but also introduction of the new generation technologies of nuclear fuel cycle. Firstly, this includes production of dense nitride MNUP fuel, which will ensure the efficient operation of a lead-cooled fast reactor and consist entirely of recycled nuclear materials such as plutonium and depleted uranium. Secondly, this means more efficient and economically attractive radiochemical technologies for the processing of irradiated fuel and waste management. Taken together, they will make the nuclear power of the future in fact renewable with a practically waste-free production chain,” said Natalia Nikipelova, President of Rosatom’s TVEL Fuel Company.

President of National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” Mikhail Kovalchuk noted that the start of construction of the new reactor Russia has launched the project aimed at bringing nuclear power to a new level.

“Today we launch the principally new atomic project aimed at new energy generation. The only evident, large-scale, technologically proven and carbon-free way of energy generation is nuclear power. It is one and only at its core; it is carbon-free; it doesn’t burn oxygen and doesn’t emit anything in the atmosphere. In this sense, it ideally responds to the today’s request of the civilization. It has only one “but”: spent nuclear fuel. The closing of the nuclear fuel cycle, in fact, returning to the nature what we took, is the nature-like nuclear power. This is one of several steps of the comprehensive solution.”

According to the planned timeline, the BREST-OD-300 reactor should start operating in 2026. A fuel production facility will be built by 2023 and the construction of an irradiated fuel reprocessing module is scheduled to start by 2024.