The first Soviet reactor built to produce plutonium for military purposes, called
Annushka (A for short),
began operating at Mayak in June 1948. The reactor was a single-purpose, water-cooled,
graphite-moderated, single-pass reactor.[1,10] Four
additional graphite-moderated plutonium production reactors were built at
Mayak between 1950 and 1952.[10] In addition to
the graphite-moderated reactors, one heavy water-moderated reactor was also built
during this period. All five of the plant's uranium-graphite
plutonium production reactors (A, IR, AV-1, AV-2, and AV-3) have been permanently
shut down.[2,3,4] These five reactors reportedly produced a total of 58.3t of plutonium.[5] Two tritium-producing reactors--Ruslan and Lyudmila--are still in operation.[4,6,7] The fuel for these reactors consists entirely
of HEU.[8]
Ruslan, which was rebuilt from the old heavy-water reactor and put in operation in 1979, is
a pool-type light-water reactor (water-cooled, water moderated). Lyudmila, a
heavy-water reactor, became operational in 1987. Both reactors continue production of tritium for nuclear weapons. They also produce various isotopes,
including plutonium-238, cobalt-60, irridium-192, carbon-14, cesium, and
others.
According to the director of Plant 23, which houses the two reactors, 60%
of Lyudmila's output is for civilian programs. Ruslan is less suitable
for civilian production, so barely 15% of its capacity is used for civilian
purposes. The plant director noted that it is feasible and desirable to modify
Ruslan in order to increase its civilian production capacity.[9,10,11] According to an article in Nauka i zhizn, Mayak
reactors produce 20% of world output of isotopes.[10]
Sources: [1] Alexander M. Dmitriev, "Converting Russian Plutonium-Production
Reactors to Civilian Use," Science & Global Security, Vol. 5,
1994, pp. 37-46. [2] Nucleonics Week, 23 May 1992, p. 14. [3] "The Radiochemical Facility "Mayak" At Chelyabinsk,"
Surviving
Together, Winter 1994, p. 29. [4] Thomas B. Cochran, Robert S. Norris, and Oleg A. Bukhkarin,
Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin, (Boulder: Westview Press,
1995), p.75. [5] Nils Bohmer and Thomas Nilsen, "Reprocessing Plants in
Siberia: Ozersk," Bellona Web Site, http://www.ngo.grida.no/ngo/bellona/ehome/russia/sibir/ sibir1.htm#O2,
12 April 1996. [6] Aleksandr Yemelyanenkov and Vladimir Popov, eds., Atom
Bez Grifa "Sekretno": Tochki Zreniya, (Berlin: H&P Druck, 1992),
pp. 9-10. [7] Discussions with Russian nuclear official, December 1995. [8] Oleg Bukharin, "Integratsiya voyennogo i grazhdanskogo
yadernykh toplivnykh tsiklov v Rossii," Yadernyy Kontrol, September
1995, pp. 10-13. [9] Vladislav Larin, "Mayak Integrated Plant: What Is It?"
Energiya:
Ekonomika, Tekhnika, Ekologiya, No. 3, March 1996, pp. 24-31; in "Documents
Reveal Details of Urals Nuclear Disaster," FBIS-UST-97-002. [10] Vladimir Gubarev, "'Ruslan' i 'Lyudmila,'
reaktory dlya termoyadernogo oruzhiya i izotopov," Nauka i zhizn,
No. 6, 1997, pp. 78-83. [11] "4 aprelya 2000 goda ispolnilos 50 let reaktornomu zavodu PO 'Mayak' -
zavodu 23," PO Mayak Web Site, http://www.ozersk.ru/mayak/23zavod.shtml,
April 2000. {Updated 10/23/2001 ES}
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PO Mayak file, see the 