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 Research and Development
Use of MOX Fuel
MOX Fuel Fabrication
MOX Fuel and the US-Russia Plutonium Disposition
Agreement
 Archived
MOX
Fuel Developments
Plutonium
Disposition Overview
Archived Plutonium Disposition Developments
Plutonium Disposition Full-Text
Documents
For major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.
Mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, sometimes referred to as
plutonium fuel, is a nuclear reactor fuel that combines plutonium and
uranium oxides. The resulting fuel
contains approximately 3-10% plutonium.
Research and Development
Experiments with plutonium as a fuel for small research
reactors began in Russia in the latter half of the 1950s at the Bochvar All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Inorganic Materials
(VNIINM)
in Moscow.[1,2] Systematic study of
plutonium fuel for use in fast neutron reactors began in 1970.[3]
Two basic technologies for MOX fuel production were created during the
early stages of Russia’s program. One technology, developed at
VNIINM, is based on
uranium-plutonium co-precipitation, production of oxide powder,
fabrication of fuel pellets from the powder, and finally the manufacture of fuel
elements and fuel assemblies. The
properties of the resulting fuel are similar to
those of conventional uranium fuel. This
technology is often referred to as pelletized MOX fuel production. Another
MOX fuel production technology was created at the Scientific
Research Institute for Atomic Reactors (SRIAR) in Dimitrovgrad. This
process begins with the extraction of plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, which
is then mixed with depleted uranium. The
mixture is granulated using an electrochemical process and is later compacted to
produce fuel elements. This
particular process eliminates the production of fuel pellets. It is also called
vibro-compacted fuel production.[2,4]
MOX fuel research and analysis is currently conducted at several research
institutes in Russia: VNIINM, SRIAR, the Institute
for Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), the V.G.
Khlopin Radium Institute Scientific Production Association, the Kurchatov
Institute, the All-Russia Research
Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operation (VNIIAES), the State
Specialized Design Institute (GSPI), the SNIIP
Scientific and Engineering
Center, the Experimental Machine
Building Design Bureau (OKBM), and Mayak
Production Association (PO Mayak).[13]
Use of MOX
Fuel
Large batches of MOX fuel with different isotopic
compositions were tested in the BOR-60 reactor at
SRIAR, beginning in 1970.[3] After the successful completion of these
tests, MOX fuel was used in the BN-350 fast
neutron reactor in
Aktau, Kazakhstan (shut
down in April 1999) beginning in 1972 and at Russia’s BN-600
fast neutron reactor at the Beloyarsk NPP in 1980.[3,4] MOX fuel is
currently used in the BN-600 at Beloyarsk NPP and in the BOR-60 reactor at
SRIAR,
both fast neutron reactors. After several years
of delay, in February 2001 Minatom announced the decision to begin the
construction of one more unit at Beloyarsk NPP, referred to
as the BN-800 reactor, an updated version of the BN-600. The estimated completion date of the project is 2009.[8]
A project for creating an experimental, lead-cooled fast reactor named BREST has
also been under consideration by Minatom for several years.[7]
President Putin’s September 2000 Millennium Summit initiative called
for an international project to develop a new type of MOX-burning reactor similar to
BREST.[14]
However, some experts suggest that BREST reactor technology still remains in
the theoretical stage.[15] It was not until the late 1990s that Russia began conducting research on
MOX fuel for light-water reactors, specifically VVER-1000 reactors.[1] Seven
VVER-1000 reactors in Russia have been identified as potentially available
for using MOX fuel after certain modifications: four units at Balakovo
NPP, two at Kalinin NPP
and one at Novovoronezh NPP.
As of April 2001, no MOX fuel has been used in any Russian light-water
reactor.
MOX Fuel Fabrication
As of April 2001, Russia has no industrial-scale MOX fuel
fabrication plant but does have one pilot plant, the Paket plant, which is able to produce small batches of MOX. The Granat plant, another small
pilot plant that produced MOX, was shut down in 1997 for safety reasons and as
of April 2001 remains closed.[1,9] The
Paket and Granat plants are located at PO Mayak in Ozersk and are designed to
work with weapons-grade plutonium and produce MOX fuel for fast reactors.
Construction of the Paket plant began in 1980 and was completed in 1993.[1,3] Paket has the capacity to produce up to 40 MOX fuel
assemblies per year.[3] Construction
of Complex 300, a facility designed to produce up to 900 fuel assemblies
for fast reactors, began in 1984 at Mayak, but was stopped in 1989 due to
financial problems and delays in construction of the BN-800 fast reactors at
Beloyarsk and South Urals NPPs.[1,2,3] It seems unlikely that
Complex 300 will be
completed. Minatom has looked at other alternatives such as building a new MOX fabrication facility or importing
an unused MOX facility from
Germany.
Germany and France became interested in Russia’s MOX
fuel program in 1992.[3] Several
years prior to the 1 September 2000 signing of the US-Russia
Plutonium Disposition Agreement, France’s Cogema and Germany’s
Siemens, both producers of MOX fuel, raised the idea of constructing a MOX
fabrication unit at PO Mayak with equipment from an unused MOX production plant in
Hanau, Germany. The possibility of exporting the Hanau plant received even more attention
after the signature of the US-Russia Plutonium Disposition Agreement in September 2000
(for more details on the Hanau Plant,
please see the MOX Fuel Developments
section of the database). In April
2001, Russian First Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valentin Ivanov stated that Russia intends to
construct two facilities to process plutonium and fabricate MOX fuel and one waste storage facility in
fulfillment of the Plutonium Disposition Agreement if sufficient international funding
is provided.[16]
MOX Fuel and the US-Russia Plutonium Disposition
Agreement
Russian MOX fuel production from weapons-grade plutonium
has received high-level attention since negotiations on the disposition of
weapons-origin plutonium began in the fall of 1998 between the United States and
Russia. Negotiations were concluded
in June 2000 and the US-Russia
Plutonium Disposition Agreement was signed on 1 September 2000. The agreement calls for both countries to dispose of 34 metric tons
(t) of
weapons-grade plutonium by either irradiating it as fuel in reactors or by
immobilizing it within high-level radioactive waste.[5,6]
Russia considers weapons-grade plutonium a “strategic commodity” and
intends to burn all 34t as MOX reactor fuel. The
agreement also requires both countries to begin operation of facilities by 2007
that can achieve a disposition rate of at least 2t per year. Plutonium disposition in Russia will require the construction of a
facility capable of converting plutonium metal pits to plutonium oxide, an industrial-scale MOX fabrication facility, several fast neutron reactors,
and the retrofitting of several VVER-1000 light water reactors. The
US Department of Energy (DOE) estimates Russia’s cost for
implementing the agreement at $1.9 billion.[6]
Operating in conjunction with the US-Russian Plutonium
Disposition Agreement is the Parallex Project. Small shipments to Canada
of MOX fuel fabricated from weapons-grade plutonium under this project
began in 2000 and will continue until 2003, testing Russian and US MOX fuel in
the Canadian deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactor
located at Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) facility. The first US
shipment to CRL occurred in January 2000, and the first Russian shipment took
place in September 2000. MOX fuel
made form weapons-origin plutonium comes from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the
United States and VNIINM in the Russian Federation.[10,11,12]
For more information on plutonium disposition and MOX fuel developments
associated with plutonium disposition program in Russia, see the
Plutonium Disposition Overview and the Russia:
Fissile Materials: Plutonium Disposition Developments file.
For the latest developments on MOX fuel and related issues, please see
the Russia: MOX Fuel Developments section of the
NIS Nuclear Profiles database.
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Fissile Material Production and Disposition
