Plans to build nuclear research reactor in Belarus

21.04.2016

A multifunctional nuclear reactor can be built in Belarus for research purposes, BelTA learned from Andrei Kuzmin, Director General of the state research institution United Energy and Nuclear Research Institute Sosny of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, during a roundtable session on nuclear infrastructure development on 20 April. The roundtable session was held as part of Atomexpo Belarus.

According to Andrei Kuzmin, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has repeatedly contacted the government with the request to consider the advisability of building such a reactor and its possible research areas. Positive answers have been received and a preliminary list of research areas has been compiled. The approach follows IAEA guidelines. The IAEA believes it is necessary to make a team of interested organizations first. Such organizations can later order the research projects that can be accomplished using the reactor.

Building a nuclear reactor for research purposes is rather a complicated process, this is why the project is likely to be implemented stage by stage. The possibility of expanding the reactor’s services and the range of experimental devices will be part of the design from the very start, said Andrei Kuzmin. It is likely that a pool-type reactor will be chosen as the most thoroughly tested design. The reactor is supposed to use reduced-enrichment fuel. The International Atomic Energy Agency approves of the approach.

The output range under consideration varies from 10MW to 20MW. “We are now inclining towards the upper limit or about 20MW. The specific output parameters and other parameters will be determined when preliminary project documents are ready,” said the Director General of the United Energy and Nuclear Research Institute Sosny. In his words, the Russian state corporation Rosatom may take part in the project.

The future reactor can be used for physics research, radiation-related materials science, for training personnel and other purposes. “Developing the competence in nuclear energy uses is one of the tasks the nuclear research reactor will tackle. This is why there is a correlation between the development of the nuclear energy program in Belarus and the creation of the research reactor,” added Andrei Kuzmin.

The United Energy and Nuclear Research Institute Sosny commissioned an IRT-M research reactor in the early 1960s but it was shut down in the 1990s.

Tags: construction , equipment , innovations , nuclear fuel , reactor , technologies

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