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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Russian government is fully behind the strategic and economic importance of nuclear technology and has said that investment will rise and a major development program will be fast-tracked.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who chaired a meeting at Novovoronezh nuclear power station on economic innovation and modernization, said nuclear technology had applications in: the economy, the power industry, space exploration, aviation, medicine, agriculture, production of composite materials and informatics.
Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation, currently invests $737 million annually in research and development (R&D) as part of an annual state budget for nuclear programs of $1.9 billion.
Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom, said at the meeting that he expects the R&D figure to reach $1.3 billion in 2020. This represents about ten times the value of the figure in 2007 when the country began consolidating its nuclear activities within Rosatom.
Kiriyenko said that one key program is being brought forward by a decade. The program had previously been intended to demonstrate incoming fast reactor technology and associated fuel cycle infrastructure by 2020 so that it could come into use by 2030. Now the goal will not have individual elements being demonstrated but a full range in operation by 2020.
In September, Rosatom confirmed a plan to install the pilot BREST-300 lead-cooled fast reactor at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) at Severesk in the Tomsk region. This would initiate the construction of the first plant to make the reactor's dense nitride fuel elements. The construction of this 300-megawatt (MW) reactor would start in 2016 so that it could generate power from 2020. It would be the forerunner of a nationwide series of 1,200 MW versions.
The SCC currently has a uranium enrichment plant with a capacity of three million separative work units a year and is able to handle uranium recovered from reprocessing. This is complemented by a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel plant, while a uranium conversion plant is also being built and planned for operation after 2016 to meet total Russian demand.
"We will gather everything at the SCC site," said Kiriyenko. He added that Rosatom would soon ask the government for funding so that it can create an experimental circuit at SCC to close the nuclear fuel cycle.
Rosatom's long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe nuclear plants that use fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle and mixed-oxide fuel (MOX fuel). The country's federal target program envisages nuclear providing 45/50% of the country's power need at that time, with the share rising to 70/80% by the end of the century.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who chaired a meeting at Novovoronezh nuclear power station on economic innovation and modernization, said nuclear technology had applications in: the economy, the power industry, space exploration, aviation, medicine, agriculture, production of composite materials and informatics.
Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation, currently invests $737 million annually in research and development (R&D) as part of an annual state budget for nuclear programs of $1.9 billion.
Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom, said at the meeting that he expects the R&D figure to reach $1.3 billion in 2020. This represents about ten times the value of the figure in 2007 when the country began consolidating its nuclear activities within Rosatom.
Kiriyenko said that one key program is being brought forward by a decade. The program had previously been intended to demonstrate incoming fast reactor technology and associated fuel cycle infrastructure by 2020 so that it could come into use by 2030. Now the goal will not have individual elements being demonstrated but a full range in operation by 2020.
In September, Rosatom confirmed a plan to install the pilot BREST-300 lead-cooled fast reactor at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) at Severesk in the Tomsk region. This would initiate the construction of the first plant to make the reactor's dense nitride fuel elements. The construction of this 300-megawatt (MW) reactor would start in 2016 so that it could generate power from 2020. It would be the forerunner of a nationwide series of 1,200 MW versions.
The SCC currently has a uranium enrichment plant with a capacity of three million separative work units a year and is able to handle uranium recovered from reprocessing. This is complemented by a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel plant, while a uranium conversion plant is also being built and planned for operation after 2016 to meet total Russian demand.
"We will gather everything at the SCC site," said Kiriyenko. He added that Rosatom would soon ask the government for funding so that it can create an experimental circuit at SCC to close the nuclear fuel cycle.
Rosatom's long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe nuclear plants that use fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle and mixed-oxide fuel (MOX fuel). The country's federal target program envisages nuclear providing 45/50% of the country's power need at that time, with the share rising to 70/80% by the end of the century.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
