“Eternity” is still far away: experts called the Beloyarsk NPP reactor unprofitable

Ivan Zubov

Curious events have been developing in recent days around the Beloyarsk NPP. Yesterday, October 10, the deputy director of this station, Denis Vaskin, was arrested by the FSB officers on suspicion of taking a bribe of 2 million rubles. This is rather strange, given that two days ago the Russian media solemnly reported that “eternal nuclear reactors” had been created in the country, and the first of them, the BN-800, was brought to the nominal power level precisely at the Beloyarsk NPP.

The source of its energy for it is recycled fuel, from elements of weapons of mass destruction to spent components of classic nuclear power plants. This fuel is called MOX fuel. The raw materials for its production are plutonium dioxide obtained during the processing of nuclear waste from traditional VVER reactors, as well as dismantled nuclear weapons, and depleted uranium oxide (obtained by defluorination of uranium-238 hexafluoride, the so-called secondary "tails" of enrichment production).

It is reported that Russian scientists were able to create a virtually waste-free nuclear power plant using uranium-238, which will last for millions of years.

At the same time, the media claim that nuclear energy remains the highest priority and environmentally friendly direction for the development of the industry, and will eventually replace all other methods of generating electricity. Moreover, Russian specialists and state-owned companies occupy leading positions in this area, and the leadership of our state is undeniable.

However, the experts of the channel “Babr. There’s nowhere else to go” doubted such conclusions, and commented on this, at first glance, sensational event:

“Rosatom is silent about the fact that BN-800 reactors are economically unprofitable. For reactors of this type, the cost of 1 kW of installed power is one and a half times higher than for traditional nuclear reactors. BN-800 has a significantly more expensive fuel, since high enrichment uranium is required for the production of MOX fuel. The BN-800 has much higher operating, maintenance and repair costs, which is associated with the use of metallic sodium rather than water as a coolant. And finally, the BN-800 has a significantly lower installed capacity utilization factor due to a short fuel cycle.

Every six months, this reactor must be completely shut down to refuel.

Experiments with fast neutron reactors began in the USSR in the late 1970s and were accompanied by numerous accidents..."