Background Structure Fissile Material MPC&A Reactors Critical Assemblies

LOCATION: Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast (45km south of Saint Petersburg)[1]
Address: PNPI RAS, Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, 188350
Telephone: (812) 371-96, (812) 360-25
Fax: (812-71) 371-96, (812-71) 313-47[2]
Sources:
[1] I. A. Baranov et al., "US Department of Energy/Gosatomnadzor of Russia Project at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute," Partnership for Nuclear Security: United States/ Former Soviet Union Program of Cooperation on Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting, (US Department of Energy, December 1997).
[2] Scientific and Research Institutes in the Former Soviet Union, http://www.novecon.com/institut/konstant.htm. {Entered 4/28/98 IY, Updated 5/7/2001 KB}
HOMEPAGE: http://www.pnpi.spb.ru 
SUBORDINATION:  Ministry of Education
[NISNP Correspondence with Russian Nuclear Scientist, 11 October 1999, RUS991011.]{updated 10/13/99 FW}
ADMINISTRATION:
Director: Vladimir Nazarenko
[St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute Web Site, http://www.extech.msk.su:8082/src_eng/.../52e-gnz.htm.]
BACKGROUND:
This institute was founded in 1954 as a branch of Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute. In 1971 the institute became an independent entity.  In 1992 the institute was granted the status of a State Research Center of Russia.
["PNPI Short Historical Background," PNPI Web Site, http://www.pnpi.spb.ru/achievments.html.]{entered 5/17/01 DK}
STRUCTURE:
Department of Theoretical Physics
Department of High Energy Physics
Department of Neutron Research
Department of Molecular and Radiation Biophysics
["The Physics Complex at Gatchina--A Complex Worth Its Full Value," Tekhnika--Molodezhi,  No. 4, April 1996, p. 2; in "General Description of Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics," FBIS-UMA-96-123-S, 26 June 1996.]{entered 5/17/01 DK}
FISSILE MATERIAL:
The Institute houses over 100kg of HEU in the form of fuel rods. Part of the HEU stock is 90% enriched.  
[I. A. Baranov et al., "US Department of Energy/Gosatomnadzor of Russia Project at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute," Partnership for Nuclear Security: United States/ Former Soviet Union Program of Cooperation on Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting, (US Department of Energy, December 1997).]{entered 1/31/01 DK}
MPC&A:
Under the US Department of Energy MPC&A program, upgrades were completed at four Institute buildings in May 1998.[1]  The WWR-M reactor building houses the WWR-M reactor, the PIK critical assembly, and fresh fuel for the PIK. Physical protection and vulnerability assessment training has been completed.[2]
Sources:
[1] US General Accounting Office, Nuclear Nonproliferation:  Security of Russia's Nuclear Material Improving; Further Enhancements Needed, GAO-01-312 (Washington, DC:  February 2001), GAO Web Site, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01312.pdf.
[2] US Department of Energy, Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Partnership for Nuclear Material Security (Washington, D.C.,  1997).]{Entered 1/6/98 PBI}{Updated 5/21/2001 KB}
 
For a description of the MPC&A work being performed at this site please see the Department of Energy's December 1997 document, United States/Former Soviet Union Program of Cooperation on Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting: Partnership for Nuclear Security.
COMMENTS:
The institute employs about 600 scientific associates and 1,000 engineer-technical workers. Among them are nearly 300 candidates of sciences, 60 doctors of sciences, and five members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
["The Physics Complex at Gatchina--A Complex Worth Its Full Value," Tekhnika--Molodezhi,  no. 4, April 1996, p. 2; in "General Description of Petersbur Institute of Nuclear Physics," FBIS-UMA-96-123-S, 26 June 1996.]
REACTORS: Two
NAME: VVR-M Gatchina
TYPE: tank
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
POWER: 18MW
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
FUEL: 1.0kg, 90% enriched
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
OPERATOR: Russian Academy of Sciences.
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
SPENT FUEL AND RADIOACTIVE WASTE:
This reactor has the capacity to store 3500kg of spent fuel.
["IAEA research reactors database," IAEA Web Site, http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/rrdb/.]
COMMENTS:
This reactor was commissioned in 1959. The All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Complex Energy Technology in St. Petersburg designed the reactor.
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
 
NAME: PIK
TYPE: tank, high flux
POWER: 100MW
["World Nuclear Industry Handbook 1995," Nuclear Engineering International, p. 115.]
FUEL:   at least 27kg of 90% HEU
[Vladimir Stantso, "His Majesty the Neutron's Peak," Tekhnika--Molodezhi, no. 4, April 1996, pp. 3-4; in "Interview Discusses PIK Reactor", FBIS-UMA-96-123-S, 26 June 1996.]
OPERATOR: Russian Academy of Sciences
COMMENTS:
The All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Complex Energy Technology in St. Petersburg designed the reactor.[1] The acronym PIK stands for beam research reactor (puchkovyy issledovatelskiy kotel) in Russian.[2] According to St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute Director Vladimir Nazarenko, the reactor will become operational in 2003.[3] The project began in 1976 but was halted after the Chornobyl accident.[4]  The design was improved and the revised version was accepted in 1990. Tekhnika--Molodezhi reported that the PIK reactor is a compact neutron source that is surrounded by a heavy water reflector. The total volume of the core is 50 liters.  Light water is used for both the reactor moderator and cooling agent. When PIK reaches its design output, it will create a fixed flux of 1.2x10¹⁵ neutrons per second per square centimeter at the reflector. For research purposes, these neutrons will be extracted from the core along 22 channels.[5] According to the institute's scientists, the PIK facility will become an international center for neutron research, studies in solid state physics, and particle interaction.[2,6] The total cost of the project was estimated at $150 million.[7]
Sources:
[1] List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.
[2] NTV, 12 October 2001;  in "Pioneering Russian research reactor takes shape near St. Petersburg," FBIS Document CEP20011012000141.{updated 12/4/2001 DK}
[3] "Stroyashchiisya v Gatchine, Leningradskaya oblast, yadernyy issledovatelskiy vysokopotochnyy reaktor 'PIK' budet vveden v ekspluatatsiyu v dekabre 2003 goda," Russian Nuclear Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/news_r/2702012.htm.
[4] "Sredi dostoprimechatelnostey Gatchiny poyavitsya yadernyy reaktor," Izvestiya, 6 February 1996,  p. 1.
[5] Vladimir Stantso, "His Majesty the Neutron's Peak," Tekhnika--Molodezhi, no. 4, April 1996, pp. 3-4; in "Interview Discusses PIK Reactor", FBIS-UMA-96-123-S, 26 June 1996.
[6] Delovoy Peterburg, 3 October 2001; in Judith Perera, Nuclear News. {updated 12/4/2001 DK}
[7] Nuclear Engineering International, March 1998, p. 4; in NB98.11-14, UI News Briefing, 19 March 1998. {Updated 4/13/98 IY; 3/1/01 DK}
 
CRITICAL ASSEMBLIES: Two (one operational)
[NISNP Correspondence with Russian Nuclear Scientist, 11 October 1999, RUS991011.]{updated 10/13/99 FW}
NAME: FM PIK
FUEL: 18.60 - 27.5kg of 90% HEU
["IAEA Research Reactors Database," IAEA Web Site, http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/rrdb/.]{entered 5/15/01 DK}
APPLICATION: Critical test facility with physical model of PIK reactor
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
NAME: BIOR
COMMENTS:
It is likely that this critical assembly has been shut down.
[List of Research Reactors, Critical and Subcritical Assemblies Supervised by Gosatomnadzor, 13 July 1992.]
 
ARCHIVED ST. PETERSBURG NUCLEAR PHYSICS INSTITUTE DEVELOPMENTS (For more recent developments, see the Research Facilities Developments file):
 
10/4/2001: PIK REACTOR TO RECEIVE FINANCING
Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom), Ministry of Industry, Science and Technologies, and the Russian Academy of Sciences have agreed to provide 199 million rubles ($6.99 million as of 4 October 2001) to continue construction of the PIK research reactor.  According to Vladimir Nazarenko, director of the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, this sum constitutes only 61.66% of what was promised for 2001.  As of October 2001, the reactor was 80% complete, with about $35 million in work still to be done.
Sources:
[1] Delovoy Peterburg, 3 October 2001; in Judith Perera, Nuclear News.
[2] NTV, 12 October 2001;  in "Pioneering Russian research reactor takes shape near St. Petersburg," FBIS Document CEP20011012000141.{entered 12/4/2001 DK}
 
6/96: HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS CONFERENCE AT GATCHINA
A recent event in Gatchina in cooperation with European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the so-called Montanet's Seminar, brought together forty major experts on elementary particles and high energy physics from Russia and CERN to discuss the sector's scientific and organizational problems.
["The Physics Complex at Gatchina -- A Complex Worth Its Full Value," FBIS-UMA-96-123-S, 26 June 1996.]

 

Last updated 8 July 2004 

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This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2003 by MIIS.

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