COMPLEX 300 (ALSO KNOWN AS A-300 AND SHOP 300)[1]
ACTIVITIES: This MOX fabrication plant has been under construction since 1984. In 1991,
construction came to a halt.[2, 3] The plant is now about 50 percent complete.[1]
The German company Siemens and Russia's Minatom are negotiating for the experimental
use of German reprocessing technology at Complex 300.[3] The production complex
will fabricate up to 900 MOX fuel assemblies a year for the BN-800 reactors
currently under construction at the South Urals and Beloyarsk NPPs.[4] The
total cost of the two projects is estimated to be $2.5 billion. Both are expected
to be completed by the year 2010.[5] Russia and France are studying the feasibility
of building a facility for converting plutonium extracted from weapons into
MOX fuel. The facility would annually convert 1,300kg of weapons plutonium
into 1.5 MT of MOX to be used in Beloyarsk's BN-600 reactor, and 20 MT of
MOX to be used in four reactors at Balakovo NPP. The facility, called TOMOX,
may be built on to Complex 300.[1]
Sources: [1] Ann MacLachlan, "French And Russians Study MOX Plant
For Fast Reactors, VVERs," NuclearFuel, 9 October 1995, p. 7. [2] Thomas Cochran, Robert S. Norris, Oleg Bukharin, Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995),
pp. 204, 206. [3]"Siemens otbirayet 'kleb' u rossiyskikh radiokhimikov,"
Segodnya, 18 January 1996, p. 9. [4] Valeriy Bogdan, Victor Murogov, Vladimir Kagramanyan,
Mikhail Troyanov, "Use of Plutonium in Russia," Yadernyy Kontrol, November
2995, pp. 13-17. [5] Vladimir Orlov, "Interview Of The Month," Yadernyy
Kontrol, July 1995, pp. 10-12.
GRANAT PRODUCTION PLANT ACTIVITIES: This plant began producing fuel for tests in fast breeder reactors in 1988.
Its capacity was 70-80kg of plutonium per year (10 fuel assemblies/year).[1]
In 1997, Granat was shut
down for safety reasons and as of May 2001 remains closed.[2]
Sources: [1] Thomas Cochran, Robert S. Norris, Oleg Bukharin, Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995),
p. 92. [2] NISNP email correspondence with US
Department of Energy official, April 2001. {Updated 4/30/01 GD}
PAKET PRODUCTION PLANT ACTIVITIES: Paket uses the MOX fuel produced by Granat to produce fuel pellets and
fuel rods for testing in fast breeder reactors. The plant's capacity is 10
fuel assemblies/year,[1] or by weight, 300kg fuel/year.[2] In 1993, Paket
produced 100kg of fuel. The plant is currently under reconstruction to produce
40 MOX fuel assemblies/year for the BN-600 FBR.[2] As of November 1995, Paket
had produced MOX fuel assemblies containing a total of 350kg of weapons-grade
plutonium that were tested in the BN-350 reactor. Plans exist to modernize
Paket's test facilities to fulfill Gosatomnadzor's safety requirements.[3]
Sources: [1] Thomas Cochran, Robert S. Norris, Oleg Bukharin, Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995),
p. 92. [2] "World Nuclear Industry Handbook 1995," Nuclear Engineering
International, p. 124.
[3] Valeriy Bogdan, Victor Murogov, Vladimir Kagramanyan,
Mikhail Troyanov, "Use of Plutonium in Russia," Yadernyy Kontrol,
November 1995, pp. 13-17.
PILOT BAY ACTIVITIES: This area of Mayak was used to manufacture pilot
fuel pellets and fuel rods for fast-neutron research reactors in the 1960s
and 1970s. During that time, a total of approximately 1MT of weapons-grade
plutonium, in the form of alloys and PuO2, was used in fuel production.
[Thomas Cochran, Robert S. Norris,
Oleg Bukharin, Making the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder:
Westview Press, 1995), p. 92.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN}
ZHEMCHUG PLANT ACTIVITIES: This plant has been shut down. It manufactured MOX fuel for fast
reactors from 1986-1987, and had a capacity of five fuel assemblies per year,
using fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium from BN reactors.
[Thomas Cochran, Robert S. Norris, Oleg Bukharin, Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995),
p. 92.]
ARCHIVED MAYAK MOX FUEL DEVELOPMENTS:
This section is no longer being updated. For major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file. 4/23/2001: MAYAK DIRECTOR REPORTS SUCCESSFUL
TESTING OF MOX FUEL FROM WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM On 23 April 2001, PO Mayak Director Vitaliy
Sadovnikov reported in his interview to ITAR-TASS that
MOX fuel manufactured at Mayak from weapons-grade plutonium had been
successfully tested in the BN-600 fast neutron reactor at the Beloyarsk
Nuclear Power Plant. Mayak, according to the report, continues to
develop technology to convert weapons-origin plutonium into "a peaceful
product." Sadovnikov added that the Fissile
Material Storage Facility at Mayak, upon its completion, would be able
to safely store fissile material from dismantled nuclear warheads for over
100 years.
["Spetsialisty khimkombinata
"Mayak" sozdali teplovydelyayushchyuyusya sborku dlya AES na
osnove oruzheynogo plutoniya," ITAR-TASS, 23 April 2001; in Integrum
Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.]
{Entered 4/27/2001 ES}
7/2000 PLAN TO EXPORT GERMAN MOX PRODUCTION FACILITY
TO MAYAK IN QUESTION As of July 2000, the German government continues
to face a serious dilemma regarding the proposed export of the unused Siemens
MOX production plant in Hanau to Russia. The new policy to phase out
nuclear energy may require the revision of the German Federal Nuclear Law,
which would eliminate the promotion of nuclear energy from Germany's international
commitments and end German funding of programs which advance the peaceful
use of nuclear energy. Although the German government is a strong advocate
of the elimination of Russian weapons-grade plutonium, facilitating the development
of MOX technology in Russia would conflict with Germany's new nuclear energy
policy. According to German sources, recent issues between the Foreign Ministry
and the Ministry of the Environment and Nuclear Safety will delay any
proposal to export the Hanau MOX production facility to Russia until after
the facility has been dismantled. Although all other G-8 countries support
the plan to convert Russian weapons-grade plutonium into MOX fuel, the German
government cannot make a decision in favor of MOX fuel fabrication without
having first considered other alternatives such as plutonium immobilization.
The G-8 will discuss the Russian plutonium disposition issue at the summit
in Okinawa 21-23 July 2000, although no formal decision will be made at that
time.[1] So far, the German government has not yet received any official application
for an export license for the Hanau MOX facility from Siemens or the Russian
government. German experts continue to discuss the export dilemma as well
as the more costly option of funding the vitrification of Russian weapons-grade
plutonium.[2]
Sources: [1] Mark Hibbs and Ann MacLachlan,
"Berlin Not Prepared To Support MOX Plan In Russia; G-8 Won't Decide," NuclearFuel,
Vol. 25, No. 13, 26 June 2000. [2] Hans Riebsamen, "Der Export der
Hanauer Mox-Fabrik koennte die Loesung sein," Frankfurter Allgemeine,
2 July 2000, p. 2; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com.
{Entered 07/11/00 NEB} 6/29/2000: COGEMA ANNOUNCES NEW PROGRAM FOR CONSTRUCTION
OF MOX FABRICATION PLANT AT MAYAK During a conference held in the week of 19 June 2000
and organized by the Nuclear Society of Russia, Laurent Corbier, US-Russia
business director for Cogema's nuclear fuel and recycling branch said that
the July 2000 G8 summit participants in Japan will consider investment plans
for a MOX fuel fabrication plant in Russia. A trilateral Russian-French-German
working group has confirmed preliminary investment costs of $800 million for
the facility. The new program unveiled by the working group contains
plans to complete construction of the fabrication facility around 2007 or
2008 and load of MOX fuel in reactors at a rate of 2MT of plutonium per year
starting in 2009. The four-stage program begins with construction of
a Chemox conversion module at the Mayak Production Association to convert
metallic plutonium alloy into dioxide powder. The second stage includes
construction of a Demox fuel fabrication module that will fabricate MOX fuel
for VVER-1000 power reactors and the BN-600 fast neutron reactor located at
the Beloyarsk nuclear power
plant. Both modules will use equipment from the now-defunct Hanau
MOX fuel plant in Germany, provided that the German government grants the
appropriate export licenses. Cogema, Siemens, and the Bochvar
All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Inorganic Materials will
evaluate the necessary modifications to Russian feed material and fuel specifications.
The third stage of the program involves modifying at least four Russian VVER-1000
power reactors for MOX fuel use, which would allow a 30% MOX core load without
any effect on safety levels. This modification will require a full-scale
test irradiation of three test assemblies in the Balakovo
nuclear power plant beginning in 2004. The fourth stage stipulates
the use of a 25% MOX core load in the BN-600 fast breeder reactor with no
significant modifications to the reactor.
["Plutonium Agreement Boosts Russian
MOX Fuel Plant Scheme," RANSAC Nuclear News, 26 June 2000, pp. 3-4.]
{Entered 06/29/00 YF}
10/20/97: MAYAK, SRIAR COMPETE FOR MOX FACILITY According to a NuclearFuel report, the Scientific
and Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (SRIAR) and the Mayak Chemical
Combine are competing to establish a domestic program to create mixed-oxide
(MOX) nuclear reactor fuel from Russia's 150 MT of excess weapons-grade plutonium.
Both facilities have only experimented, however, with MOX fuel production.
Mayak's Granat facility is capable of using 70-80 kg of plutonium per year,
and its Paket facility can use up to 80 kg of plutonium per year to produce
MOX fuel. Mayak began construction on the Complex 300 MOX fuel processing
facility, but it remains only half completed. Another MOX fuel facility
for processing used and weapons-grade plutonium is still "on the drawing board."
None of Mayak's facilities, however, are considered to be "in good condition"
by European and US safety standards. SRIAR creates up to 50 MOX fuel
assemblies per year for BN-600 reactors using vibropacking, a unique technology
first used in Russia in 1975. SRIAR Director Valentin Ivanov stated
that Mayak, the facility from which SRIAR has always received 3 MT weapons-grade
plutonium per year, has begun to charge SRIAR for plutonium, thereby negatively
impacting SRIAR's ability to make 50 MOX fuel assemblies per year. Russian
officials have blamed US foreign policy for "forcing Mayak to sell its plutonium."
Japan has expressed interest in building a MOX fuel processing plant in Russia,
using SRIAR technology. Ivanov stated that the plant would probably
be constructed at Mayak, rather than in Dimitrovgrad, since SRIAR is "not
a commercial site." Siemens and Cogema also want to construct their
Demox pilot MOX plant in Russia, but Russian officials remain suspicious of
Europeans controlling their MOX fuel industry. In September 1997, at the eighth
annual Russian Nuclear Society conference in Yekaterinburg, the Board of Directors
stated that Russia should cooperate with foreign firms establishing plants
to burn Russia's excess weapons-grade plutonium, although some felt that Russia
should develop a parallel MOX fuel industry.
[Mark Hibbs, "Russian Labs Vying To Set Up Domestic MOX Production
Program," NuclearFuel, 20 October 1997, pp. 10-12.] {Entered 11/10/98
LBN} 3/97: RUSSIA TO BUILD MOX PLANT WITH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Russia plans to enter into a joint venture with France and
Germany to build a MOX fuel fabrication plant and a pilot plant. The plant
will use Russian weapons-grade plutonium to make fuel rods for Russian nuclear
power plants. Russia unofficially told Germany that the amount of weapons-grade
plutonium, surplus to defense needs, is about 50 metric tons.[1] Three MOX
fuel assemblies will first be tested at the Balakovo nuclear power plant.
The Mayak Chemical Combine will be the site of a demonstration MOX fuel production
facility. The final MOX plant is expected to process about 1.3 metric tons
of plutonium per year.[2] Construction is set to begin in 1999, and the plant
will begin operations in 2001.[3]
Sources: [1] DDP/ADN, 3/25/97; in "Franco-German Participation
in Russian Plutonium Project," FBIS-WEU-97-084. [2] "International Plans for Russian MOX," Nuclear Engineering
International, 3/97, p. 6. [3] BBC Monitoring Summary of World Broadcasts, 5/16/97,
Uranium Institute Information Service Online Edition, http://www.uilondon.org,
No. NB97.20-26. 9/7/95: CANADA MAY USE RUSSIAN PLUTONIUM FROM DISMANTLED
NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR CANDU REACTORS It was reported that Canadian industry is examining the possibility
of using plutonium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons as fuel in Canada's
CANDU reactors. The study is planned for completion by mid-1996. Russia and
Canada will examine the possibility of producing MOX fuel at a facility in
Chelyabinsk. Construction of the facility was halted in 1988.
Sources: [1] Mark Hibbs, "Russian Plutonium Proposal Expected By AECL
In Nine Months," Nucleonics Week, 7 Spetember 1995, p. 10. [2] Ray Silver, "Hydro Nuclear Manager Advocates Change In
Bruce Retubing Schedule," Nucleonics Week, 24 August 1995, p. 11.
2/95: MOX PRODUCTION FACILITY TO BE BUILT AT CHELYABINSK Germany's Reactor Safety Company (GRS) and Minatom signed
an agreement to build a MOX production facility at Chelyabinsk in order to
convert Russia's weapons-grade plutonium into MOX fuel for use as fuel in
Russian and Western reactors.
[Wolfgang Pollack, Welt am Sonntag, "Russians Want
To Make Civilian Use Of Weapons-Grade Plutonium With the Help of German Technology,"
5 February 1995, p. 7.]
Page last updated 13 July 2001 The development section in this file is no longer being updated. For major
recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file. For archived MOX fuel developments in general,
please see the MOX fuel developments
and the Plutonium Disposition
section.
Comments or questions? Contact Elena Sokova at MIIS
CNS: esokovaATmiis.edu
To return to the main
PO Mayak file, see the 