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MOSCOW, April 10 Already in 2026, a year ahead of schedule, Rosatom plans to complete the construction of the world's most powerful multi-purpose research nuclear reactor on fast neutrons MBIR, the press service of the nuclear state corporation reported.
The MBIR reactor with a thermal capacity of 150 megawatts is being built at the site of the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) of Rosatom in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. The commissioning of the reactor is scheduled for the second half of the 2020s. It is assumed that MBIR will provide the nuclear industry with a modern and technologically advanced research infrastructure for half a century ahead.
«In January 2023, the installation of the reactor vessel in the design position was completed. Now more than 1,300 workers and engineers are working at the construction site. It is planned to complete the construction work in 2026, a year ahead of schedule,» the message on the achievement of targets reads. 2022 within the framework of the comprehensive program «Development of equipment, technologies and scientific research in the field of the use of atomic energy in the Russian Federation» (RTTN).
Last year, as part of the federal project to create an experimental bench base within the framework of the RTTN, the planned research and development work was carried out to justify the safety of the MBIR reactor and extend the life of the «fast» research reactor BOR-60, which has been operated at RIAR since 1969. In addition, the development of innovative radiochemical technologies continued.
Based on the industry program of advanced experimental research at MBIR, approved in 2021, the formation of an international research program continued. For this purpose, the Advisory Council of the International Research Center MBIR was established, which included leading Russian and foreign experts in the nuclear industry. The first meeting of the council, held at RIAR in July 2022, was attended in person and online by 56 scientists, experts and leaders from more than 13 leading scientific centers in Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Algeria, Armenia, international organizations of the IAEA and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna, Moscow region).
The unique technical characteristics of the MBIR reactor will make it possible to solve a wide range of research problems to justify the creation of new competitive and safe nuclear power plants, including fast neutron reactors for closing the nuclear fuel cycle. The research time at the new reactor will be reduced by several times.
Russia, having received such mega-science facilities as the MBIR reactor at RIAR, the PIK reactor at the Kurchatov Institute and the new neutron source at JINR, will become the only country that has a variety of neutron sources for advanced scientific research.