Tests for the BREST Reactor Plant Project.

One of the largest projects in the modern world nuclear power industry is the Russian Proryv (“Breackthrough”) Project aimed at developing technologies for closing the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) based on fast reactors. According to experts, these technologies are necessary for the future nuclear energy development for solving its raw material and environmental problems.

As part of the Proryv Project, it is planned to build a BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast reactor in the Russian Federation. The reactor will uses so-called mixed uranium-plutonium nitride (MUPN) fuel.

In September-October this year, in accordance with the agreement between the RSE NNC RK and JSC NIKIET (RF), 5 irradiation devices (ID) with fuel pin mock-ups of the BREST-OD-300 reactor were supplied to the CRR IGR. The first reactor tests of these IDs have already been conducted. They are aimed at studying the processes in MUPN-fuel when deviating from normal operating conditions. Single fuel pins are being tested for gaining power according to scenarios that are typical for the BREST reactor plant design.