Current Issues: Operating Uranium Conversion/Enrichment and Nuclear Fuel Plants - Russia 
(last updated 9 Dec 2023)
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> See also directory of World Nuclear Fuel Facilities
Western countries approve deal to stop buying nuclear fuel from Russia
President Putin will no longer be able to sell nuclear fuel to western countries after the UK, the US, Canada, Japan and France reached a deal to wean themselves off Russian energy supplies.
At a meeting in Sapporo, Japan, western allies agreed to move away from Russian supplies. The deal will ensure a supply of nuclear fuels during the war and enable co-operation on finding future sources.
(The Times Apr. 17, 2023)
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Swedish utility Vattenfall stops deliveries of Russian nuclear fuel
We are deeply concerned by the serious security situation in Europe and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
We have therefore decided that no planned deliveries from Russia to our nuclear power plants will take place until further notice.
We will also not place any new orders from Russia to our nuclear power plants until further notice.
(Vattenfall Feb. 24, 2022)
Russia to enrich reprocessed uranium for EdF
> View here
On 22 April TVEL Fuel Company 
(a subsidiary of ROSATOM), the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina and INVAP S.E. , a design and construction company wholly owned by the government of Rio Negro (Argentina), have signed two memorandums of understanding as part of the official visit of Kristina Kirchner, President of the Republic of Argentina, to Moscow.
The documents provide for a broad cooperation and joint initiatives in the field of nuclear energy, including deliveries of low-enriched uranium fuel and its components for the research and power reactors in Argentina, supplies of TVEL-manufactured zirconium components of the nuclear fuel cycle, and joint research and development projects.
(Rosatom Apr. 22, 2015)
The German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung says prosecutors are probing Germany's third biggest power utility, EnBW, for allegedly transferring funds to Switzerland, possibly to obtain nuclear fuel rods and gas from Russia.
The German power utility Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) had secretly channeled about 280 million euros ($386 million) to "slush fund" accounts in Switzerland and then to a Russian lobbyist and his Swiss firms, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) claimed on Monday (Oct. 28).
But, after getting "cold feet," EnBW later applied to retrospectively revise its tax returns for the period 2000-2007 and paid some 60 million euros to Germany's revenue collection service, said the daily, which is widely read in Germany.
(Deutsche Welle Oct. 28, 2013)
> See also: Verdacht auf schwarze Kassen bei EnBW (Süddeutsche Zeitung Oct. 28, 2013 - in German)
Russia and Ukraine are discussing the creating of a joint venture for the conversion and enrichment of uranium on Russian soil, the head of Russia's state nuclear power corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kirienko, has told the press.
The two countries already have a JV in Ukraine for the fabrication of nuclear fuel, in which Ukraine holds the controlling stake. If the enrichment JV in Russia is set up, Russia will have control, Kirienko said.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boiko has confirmed that the countries are interested in integration in the field of converting and enriching uranium, as Ukraine has undertaken not to perform such operations at home.
(Interfax Oct. 4, 2012)
> See also:
Decommissioning of Seversk conversion plant used for HEU downblending now completed
At the sublimation plant of the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCHK JSC is part of the TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom), decommissioning of a nuclear and radiation hazardous facility, a highly enriched uranium oxide processing plant (M2079), was completed.
The M2079 installation was created at the SCHK JSC sublimation plant in 1996 as part of the Russian-American agreement on nuclear disarmament, which involves the conversion of highly enriched uranium (HEU) into low-enriched energy uranium (LEU). Uranium hexafluoride was obtained at the facility by fluorination of highly enriched uranium oxides. On October 1, 2013, the M2079 installation was stopped. Nuclear materials were removed from the plant's technological equipment, and the equipment was transferred to a nuclear-safe state.
During 2018 - 2019, decommissioning was carried out: decontamination of premises, building structures and engineering systems was carried out, technological equipment, pipelines and engineering systems formed by radioactive waste were dismantled, the eligibility criteria were transferred, and transferred to the burial place of FSUE NO RAO.
A commission audit carried out by the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and TVEL JSC in March 2020 confirmed that the decommissioning of the M2079 installation at the SCHK JSC sublimation plant was completed in full and in accordance with the project.
(SCC May 18, 2020)
Transport company TLI pays US$ 2 million to settle charges over bribes in connection with former shipments of downblended HEU from Russia to the U.S.
A Maryland-based company has agreed to pay $2 million to settle charges that it bribed a Russian official to win contracts to ship uranium to the United States, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday (Mar. 13).
Transport Logistics International admitted to bribing the Russian official with more than $1.7 million over the course of a decade, through a maze of shell companies and accounts in Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland, according to Maryland federal court papers made public on Tuesday.
For decades, Washington and Moscow had an agreement that converted uranium from Russia's nuclear stockpiles to civilian grade fuel, which was shipped to the United States for use in civilian power plants.
To win contracts to ship the Russian uranium, from 2004 to 2014, TLI executives bribed Vadim Mikerin, a former director of Russia's state-owned nuclear enterprise Rosatom.
(Reuters Mar. 13, 2018)
Russia sends last shipment of downblended HEU for use in U.S. reactors
A 20-year-old deal that has powered American homes while reducing the risk of Russian nuclear material falling into the wrong hands approached its end on Thursday (Nov. 14) when the final shipment of uranium left St Petersburg for Baltimore.
Under the 1993 HEU Purchase Agreement, Russia downblended 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from nuclear weapons into low-enriched uranium and sent it to the United States, where it was made into fuel for nuclear power plants.
(Reuters Nov. 14, 2013)
Downblending program of Russian HEU for use in U.S. reactors 95 percent complete
On June 24, 2013, USEC Inc. announced that the Megatons to Megawatts program has completed downblending of 475 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium into fuel for commercial nuclear power plants and is on schedule to complete the program in 2013.
Russia not planning to extend HEU-LEU deal
Russia is not planning to extend the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Agreement with the U.S., Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) chief Sergei Kiriyenko said. The HEU-LEU agreement will expire in 2013.
Russia commitments under the existing agreement will be fulfilled, Kiriyenko said. Russia has implemented the program by more than half, having
converted over 250 tonnes of highly-enriched uranium, he said.
(Interfax July 15, 2006)
Companies Amend Deal for Uranium from Dismantled Russian Nuclear Weapons
Cameco, COGEMA and RWE NUKEM (collectively the western companies) announced they have signed an amendment with Techsnabexport (Tenex) that ensures the continued operation of the UF6 Feed Component Implementing Contract (HEU Contract) to the end of its term in 2013. The amendment provides for, amongst other things, that the western companies will forego a portion of their future options on non-quota HEU-derived uranium (i.e. quantities for consumption outside the US) to ensure there is sufficient material in Russia for blending down the weapons grade HEU to commercially usable low enriched uranium (LEU). This change was needed in light of Russia's rising requirements for uranium to fuel their expanding nuclear plant construction program within Russia and abroad. The amendment to the HEU Contract is subject to approval by the US and Russian governments.
(Cameco June 16, 2004)
US, Russia, agree on flexible pricing terms for Megatons to Megawatts program
The U.S. and Russian governments have approved implementation of new, flexible market-based pricing terms for the remaining 12 years of the historic Megatons to Megawatts national security program. The new flexible pricing terms will go into effect in January 2003.
The terms of the amendment between USEC and Tenex, the Russian executive agent, include a commitment through 2013 to purchase at least 5.5 million SWU annually, which is derived from approximately 30 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU), resulting in the purchase of a total of 500 metric tons.
(USEC June 19, 2002)
(Mashinostroitelny Zavod - MSZ, Elemash )
Rosatom shipments of fuel for China's CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor raise concern over new arms race
China's imports of Russian uranium spark fear of new arms race:
Russian nuclear fuel deliveries to a new Chinese reactor are raising US concerns about the potential to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
On the same day in December when Chinese and US diplomats said they'd held constructive talks to reduce military tensions, Russian engineers were delivering a massive load of nuclear fuel to a remote island just 220 kilometers (124 miles) off Taiwan's northern coast.
China's so-called fast-breeder reactor on Changbiao Island is one of the world's most closely-watched nuclear installations. US intelligence officials forecast that when it begins working this year, the CFR-600 will produce weapons-grade plutonium that could help Beijing increase its stockpile of warheads as much as four-fold in the next 12 years. That would allow China to match the nuclear arsenals currently deployed by the US and Russia.
(Bloomberg Mar. 1, 2023)
Rosatom ships fuel for first core loading of China's CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor:
TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom has dispatched all shipments to China scheduled for 2022, in order to supply the first core loading of the CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor. In total, three batches of nuclear fuel, including all fuel assemblies for the first core loading as well as the bundles for the first refueling, have been sent by rail from the Elemash Machine-Building Plant in Elektrostal (an enterprise of Rosatom's TVEL Fuel Company). Along with that, reactor control and protection assemblies have been delivered to China by air.
(Rosatom Dec. 28, 2022)
TVEL Elektrostal nuclear fuel plant introduces reduction pyrohydrolysis method for UO2 powder production
Russia's Mashinostroitelny Zavod (MSZ) in Elektrostal, part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom's fuel company TVEL, has begun producing uranium dioxide powder for fuel pellets using new technology. A new site has begun pilot operation for the production of uranium dioxide powder by the reduction pyrohydrolysis method (RPGU). The large-scale investment project will make it possible to replace outdated gas-flame installations for the conversion of uranium hexafluoride with modern equipment, TVEL said on 28 July. "Compared with gas-plasma installations, the new equipment is more cost-effective, environmentally friendly and radiation-safe. The operation of the installation is almost completely automated," said Igor Petrov, Technical Director at MSZ.
(Nuclear Engineering International July 31, 2020)
German nuclear power plants silently use fuel made from recycled uranium and Russian military HEU
> View here
TVEL set to ship fuel pellets to India
India's Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) has signed a protocol of acceptance with TVEL for the first 30 tonnes of uranium dioxide pellets to fuel Indian nuclear power reactors.
The protocol for the shipment of the first batch of nuclear fuel pellets to be sent to India was signed after a delegation from NFC visited TVEL's Mashinostroitelny Zavod (Elemash) plant in Elektrostal near Moscow, Russia.
TVEL and India's Department of Atomic Energy signed a long-term fuel pellet supply contract worth over $700 million in February. Under the contract, TVEL will supply uranium dioxide pellets to Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) for several years to ensure fuel supply to the Tarapur plant in Maharashtra state.
TVEL was the first company to have signed such a contract since the lifting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group 's (NSG's) restrictions on India in September 2008. The first delivery of pellets to India is scheduled for the spring of 2009.
(WNN Mar. 23, 2009)
Capacity increase at TVEL Elektrostal nuclear fuel plant
Production of nuclear fuel pellets should be boosted by 400 tonnes per year following the launch of a new plant, TVEL announced. The 'dry conversion facility' - built at a cost of more than US$15 million - was commissioned at the end of March 2003 at the Elektrostal plant of TVEL subsidiary JSC Mashinistroitelny Zavod. The plant reconverts enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas into uranium dioxide (UO2) powder. Plant construction was supervised by engineers from Framatome ANP in Germany. (WNA News Briefing April 8, 2003)
(Chepetsky Mechanical Plant - CMZ )
Russian uranium (hexafluoride) production to be concentrated in Seversk (Tomsk region)
> View here
> see also Downblending of Russian HEU for use in U.S. nuclear power plants
> see also Tails upgrading
"[...] deep disposal into geologic formations was initiated in the Soviet Union in the early 1960's.
This practice is implemented at three different sites of the Russian Federation territory, The
Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) [conversion / enrichment], State Scientific Centre - Research Institute of Atomic
Reactors (RIAR) and the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) [MOX fuel fabrication]."
"On the basis of the reviewed documentation provided by the Russian Federation and the
exchange of views during the meetings, the PRT [peer review team] has no major observation to make regarding way of operating liquid injection as currently performed.
However, the PRT is not in the position at the moment to affirm that the practice of injection
of liquid radioactive waste in the Russian Federation provides protection of humans and
environment on a timeframe commensurate with the duration of the potential hazard presented
by the liquid waste, basing this position on the IAEA safety standards.
The PRT considers that further work on the demonstration of safety should be carried out in
order to comply with the requirements of the IAEA Safety Standards. [...]"
> Download: International Peer Review of the Deep Well Injection Practice for Liquid Radioactive Waste in the Russian Federation , Final Report of the IAEA International Review Team July 2013, IAEA, September 2020 (2MB PDF)
Employee suffers burns in explosion at Seversk nuclear fuel plant
On Feb. 9, 2015, the head of JSC "Siberian Chemical Plant" (Seversk) gave the following statement on an accident that occured on Feb. 8, 2015:
"At 15:36 in the performance of technical operations occurred a depressurization of one of the tanks with depleted uranium nitride. The product, which was there, in the interaction with oxygen is capable of spontaneous combustion that happened. As a result, the Lavsan [trade name for a polyester fiber] jumpsuit of our employee caught fire, from which he received thermal burns. At 16.15 the victim was taken to the medical assistant's point of the plant, where he received first aid, he was then hospitalized in the Burn Center of the Regional Hospital. On the morning of Monday, February 9, he was flown for treatment to the FMBA of Russia in Moscow".
Russia to start direct supplies of enriched uranium to Japan
The Russian state-run civil nuclear corporation Rosatom may start direct supplies of enriched uranium to Japan following ratification of a bilateral agreement in Japan's Diet, Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said on Friday (Dec. 9).
Ratification of the agreement will radically simplify supply routes, general director of Rosatom's sale subsidiary, Alexei Grigoriyev, told RIA Novosti.
The ratification of the bilateral agreement also gives opportunities to deliver higher quality products to Japan and enrich Japanese regenerated uranium, stored in Europe, in Russia.
(RIA Novosti Dec. 10, 2011)
TVEL takes over uranium enrichment company
TVEL , a Russian state corporation and one of the global leaders among nuclear fuel producers, has purchased 100 percent of voting shares in United Company RSK ("Separation-Sublimation Complex"), according to TVEL. The company has not revealed the amount of the deal, however.
As reported earlier, the Russian atomic energy state corporation Rosatom passed a decision in November 2009 on the creation of a fuel company on the basis of TVEL assets. With that in mind, the purchase of the integrated company - a producer of enriched uranium - marks the first stage of the new company's creation.
(RBC July 26, 2010)
Decommissioning of former Krasnoyarsk nuclear fuel plant completed
The site of a plant for the production of ceramic powders of low concentration uranium dioxide has become the first nuclear facility in Russia to be returned to a greenfield site.
On 29 June, representatives of Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL and state nuclear company Rosatom's technical committee signed a document to mark the completion of decommissioning of the facility at JSC Chemical and Metallurgical Plant in Krasnoyarsk, in the far east of Russia.
In a statement, TVEL said that the completion of decommissioning of the plant marks the first time that the site of an industrial-scale nuclear facility has been totally demolished and decontaminated. It said that the site now poses no hazard and can now be used for another industrial or social use.
The cost of the project to decommission the site totalled some 656 million roubles ($21 million), which was provided by Rosatom and the federal budget.
(WNN June 30, 2010)
Russia and South Africa eye cooperation in conversion and enrichment of uranium
Russia and South Africa have studied the possibility of a cooperation in conversion and enrichment of uranium at the Angarsk enrichment plant.
(RIA Novosti Jan. 23, 2009)
TVEL aims to sell nuclear fuel in the US market by 2014
Russia's TVEL aims to sell fuel in the US market by 2014 in cooperation with General Electric, TVEL President Yuri Olenin told a press conference, according to the Nuclear.ru Internet news agency.
Olenin was quoted as saying agreements would be signed in January-February
2008 to qualify TVEL's TVS-kvadrat fuel assembly with General Electric, as
well as with an unnamed European company for deployment in the western
European market.
The TVS-kvadrat fuel would be fabricated in the US under license, he said. The
TVS-kvadrat is a square fuel assembly design, developed for Western reactors
from the traditional hexagonal assembly used in Russian-design reactors.
Olenin predicted that TVEL's share of the world nuclear fuel market would rise
from the current 17% to 30% in 2010.
(Platts Dec. 20, 2007)
Japan to contract Russia for enrichment of recycled uranium
The Japanese government and Japan's major electric power companies have entered the final stage of negotiations with Russia for consigning the enrichment of uranium to Atomenergoprom, or Atomprom, which is to be established as Russia's state-run monopoly for the nuclear energy industry, according to sources close to the deal.
The Japanese side plans to initially consign the enrichment of uranium that was recovered from spent fuel rods and has been stored in Britain.
Though electric power companies had consigned the recovery of uranium from spent fuel to firms in Britain and France, enrichment of the recovered uranium has not progressed partly because of high costs.
The amount of recovered uranium deposited by Japan with the two countries has ballooned to 6,400 tons.
In the future, the Japanese side plans to consign to Russia the enrichment of natural uranium produced in mines to which Japan has obtained the rights in Russia and Kazakhstan.
The Japanese and Russian governments aim to reach a basic agreement over the deal at a summit level meeting by the summer, and will also negotiate the signing of a bilateral nonproliferation accord to prevent nuclear material from getting into third parties' hands, which is essential to consigning the works, the sources said.
(The Yomiuri Shimbun Feb. 22, 2007)
Russian and Japanese NGOs are opposing the project.
> View Statement by Japanese and Russian Environmental Groups: Consequences of Japan-Russia-Uranium Enrichment Deal, Feb. 28, 2007 (Green Action)
Kazatomprom to obtain share in Russian enrichment plants in exchange for uranium deliveries?
> See here
(Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises - SGChE )
IAEA peer review team unable to confirm long-term safety of deep well injection of radioactive waste at Russian nuclear fuel facilities
> View here
Seversk conversion plant becomes joint stock company
The new name is Stock Company 'Siberiangroup of Chemical Enterprises' (SC 'SGChE').
(SCC Nov. 7, 2014)
"Public hearing" on new Seversk conversion plant project held behind closed doors
The nuclear industry fulfilled all requirements of law, and announced the Sep. 12, 2014, hearing in Rossiiskaya Gazeta 30 days in advance. But by then it was too late to apply for entry to the closed city of Seversk. So, the hearing was entirely restricted to nuclear workers and other residents of the closed city of Seversk.
(Bellona Sep. 17, 2014)
Public comment invited on Environmental Impact Assessment for new Seversk conversion plant project
> View SCC release Aug. 12, 2014 (in Russian).
Submit comments by September 11, 2014.
New Seversk plant to replace Angarsk conversion plant in second quarter of 2014
Beginning with the second quarter of 2014 the entire amount of uranium hexafluoride production will be performed at the SCC in Seversk, and therefore the similar production of AEC in Angarsk will be closed, according to a decision of the State Corporation Rosatom.
(SCC Jan. 28, 2014)
New conversion plant project to end obsolete practice of underground disposal of liquid radioactive waste at Seversk
A modern, environmentally safe facility capable of processing different uranium feedstock is scheduled to be constructed by 2016. The new facility is not only to meet all demands of TVEL in feed uranium conversion, but also to retrieve uranium from waste uranium products generated during nuclear fuel manufacturing at other TVEL enterprises. Once the new facility is constructed, the uranium processing capacities at JSC 'ChMP' (Glazov) and JSC 'AECC' (Angarsk) are going to be decommissioned.
Radioactive Waste Management at the New Conversion Facility of 'TVEL'® Fuel Company , by S.I. Indyk, A.V. Volodenko, K.A. Tvilenev, et al., WM2013 Conference, February 24 – 28, 2013, Phoenix, Arizona USA (376k PDF)
Russian uranium (hexafluoride) production to be concentrated in Seversk (Tomsk region)
All the production of uranium in Russia will be concentrated in the Siberian town of Seversk by 2016, Oleg Bekmemetyev, a deputy director general of the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (CMZ) told reporters Friday (Jan. 25).
"There are three facilities producing uranium in Russia," he said. "There'll be a single one and it'll be located in Seversk in Siberia. A project has been drafted for concentrating the entire production capability there."
At present, uranium is carried from the Far East to Glazov in Udmurtia, a region located to the West of the Urals, as well as to Angarsk in the Irkutsk region and to Seversk in the Tomsk region in central Siberia, and this pattern is inefficient in terms of logistics.
"It's much easier to bring uranium to Seversk, to dress it there and to supply it to the factories producing nuclear fuel," Bekmemetyev said.
(Itar-Tass Jan. 25, 2013)
New Seversk plant to replace Angarsk conversion plant in second quarter of 2014
> View here
Angarsk conversion plant to be closed in 2016
On Nov. 23, 2012, the decision was made to close the Angarsk conversion plant in 2016. In future, the uranium conversion process is to take place at Seversk.
(Neues Deutschland Dec. 10, 2012)
(Siberian Chemical Combine - SCC )
Aerial view: Google Maps 
> See also: Tails upgrading in Russia
In view of Russian invasion of Ukraine, Robin des Bois calls for halt of French exports of reprocessed uranium to Russia
> See here
Greenpeace blocks railway track used for transport of reprocessed uranium from France to Russia
> See here
Greenpeace disrupts shipment of reprocessed uranium from France to Russia
> See here
Greenpeace denounces shipments of reprocessed uranium from France to Russia
> See here
IAEA peer review team unable to confirm long-term safety of deep well injection of radioactive waste at Russian nuclear fuel facilities
> View here
Russia to enrich reprocessed uranium for EdF
> View here
Old centrifuges decommissioned at Seversk enrichment plant
At the isotope separation plant of the Siberian Chemical Combine dismantling of two blocks of fifth-generation gas centrifuges has been completed. These centrifuges were stopped in 2015 to be decommissioned and disposed of. At present, the isotope separation plant has installed centrifuges of the sixth, seventh and eighth generation.
(SCC Oct. 16, 2017)
On June 15, 2018, SCC announced that it has started the dismantling of two more blocks of fifth-generation gas centrifuges. The dismantling works will be completed by the end of 2018.
Seversk enrichment plant waste disposal scheme puts drinking water at risk
As the Seversk plant (re-)enriches uranium also for Swiss utilities, Swiss TV investigated the environmental situation at this plant. In addition to environmental contamination (in particular by plutonium) resulting from former military production at the site, the waste disposal scheme of current operations caught the attention of the journalists: the liquid wastes from the plant are disposed of by underground injection at depths between 250 and 400 metres. According to Prof Leonid Richwanov of Tomsk University, this practice endangers the municipal water supply of Seversk, once the disposed liquids reach the groundwater used for potable water abstraction.
(Schweizer Fernsehen Sep. 14, 2011 - in German)
Since the mid-1990s, France sends 108 t of recycled uranium per year from the La Hague reprocessing plant to Seversk for (re-)enrichment. The material is sent to St Petersburg by ship and is further transported to Siberia by train. The depleted uranium generated by the (re-)enrichment process becomes the property of Tenex and is stored in containers in open yards near the enrichment plant.
(Libération Oct. 12, 2009)
The recycled uranium is exported for enrichment, since France's only enrichment plant - the gaseous diffusion plan of Tricastin - does not dispose of a special circuit for the enrichment of recycled uranium (which must be kept separate from natural uranium for its contents of unwanted isotopes).
The article mistakenly uses the term depleted uranium in several instances when referring to the recycled uranium, while in fact this still is slightly higher enriched than natural uranium. Further, there is no mention of the conversion process required prior to enrichment of the recycled uranium. Since there is no conversion plant in Western Europe capable of converting recycled uranium to UF6, this process presumably also takes place in Russia.
> See also: Greenpeace blocks depleted uranium export to Russia at Le Havre (France)
A detailed analysis of the material flux can be found in the report:
Avis sur la transparence de la gestion des matières et des déchets nucléaires produits aux différents stades du cycle du combustible ,
Haut Comité pour la Transparence et l'Information sur la Sécurité Nucléaire, 12 juillet 2010 (HCTISN - in French)
(Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant - UEIP )
Aerial view: Google Maps
> See also: Tails upgrading in Russia
> See also: Tails de-conversion plant project W-EHF, Novouralsk
One worker killed and more than 100 hospitalized after breach of cylinder holding depleted uranium hexafluoride at Novouralsk enrichment plant
More than 100 people have been hospitalized and one person was killed after an explosion at a uranium enrichment plant in Russia's Urals region - the largest of its kind in the world - according to local media reports.
Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, which owns the Ural Electrochemical Combine in Novouralsk, said a cylinder with depleted uranium hexafluoride was "depressurized" at around 9 a.m. local time.
Local news outlet E1 reported that the cylinder was "dropped."
(Newsweek July 14, 2023)
The Ural Electrochemical Plant informs that all employees of the enterprise who were in the production room of workshop 53 at the time of the incident on July 14, 2023 (depressurization of a cylinder with depleted uranium hexafluoride), who were sent to the Central Medical and Sanitary Unit No. 31 of the FMBA of Russia in Novouralsk on the same day, have now been discharged from a medical institution.
(UEIP July 18, 2023)
Kazatomprom sells its 12.5% share in Novouralsk enrichment plant to joint venture partner TVEL
JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom announces its intention to sell its 50% interest (minus one (1) share) in the Uranium Enrichment Center JSC (UEC) to its partner in the joint venture, TVEL Fuel Company, for RUB 6.253 billion (approximately US$100 million). The value of the Company's interest in UEC is based on an independent fair market valuation carried out by a major global advisory firm. Kazatomprom is planning to retain one (1) share in UEC, which will preserve the Company's rights to access uranium enrichment services under the conditions previously agreed upon with TVEL.
UEC is a joint Kazakhstan-Russian enterprise established in 2006 as part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Program of Kazakhstan-Russia Cooperation in the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy. It owns 25% (plus 1 share) of the Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant JSC in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk region of Russia. UEC was the first company with foreign-ownership to have an interest in a Russian uranium enrichment facility.
(Kazatomprom Jan. 31, 2020)
On Mar. 17, 2020, Kazatomprom announced that it has completed the sale of its interest in the Uranium Enrichment Center JSC to joint venture partner TVEL.
TVEL and Kazatomprom sign key documents on uranium enrichment joint project in Novouralsk
On Nov. 23, 2012, NAC Kazatomprom JSC and TVEL, Fuel Company of Rosatom, signed the key legal documents for the implementation of the Uranium Enrichment Center (UEC) Project.
On July 5, 2010 NAC Kazatomprom JSC and the State Corporation Rosatom had signed the Joint Statement on the implementation of the UEC Project under the alternative variant, which specifies the participation of the joint venture CJSC UEC in the charter capital of the existing Russian separation enterprise - OJSC "Ural Electrochemical Plant" (OJSC UECP).
The agreements signed now between NAC Kazatomprom JSC and OJSC TVEL regulate the procedure of execution of rights of CJSC UEC shareholders, the terms of transfer of shares and the management procedure of CJSC UEC.
The next stage will consist of the acquisition by CJSC UEC the shares of OJSC UECP (25% + 1 share), upon which the joint venture will have access to enrichment services in the annual volume up to 5 million SWU.
The parties are planning to start deliveries in the second half of 2013.
(Kazatomprom Nov. 23, 2012)
Russia, Kazakhstan to kick off uranium enrichment in Novouralsk in 2013
Russia and Kazakhstan are to commence production of enriched uranium in the Russian city of Novouralsk in 2013, Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom CEO Sergey Kiriyenko told reporters today, Trend news agency reported.
The countries are working on their commercial uranium enrichment center. The enrichment facility was expected to be located in the Siberian city of Angarsk, but Kazakhstan insisted on having it relocated to Novouralsk in the Sverdlovsk Region.
In 2007, Russia and Kazakhstan set up an international center to provide in accordance with nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty uranium enrichment services to the countries that do not have their own nuclear technology.
(RBC June 8, 2012)
(Electrochemical Plant - ECP )
Aerial view: Google Maps
> See also: Zelenogorsk tails de-conversion plant W-ECP
Replacement of old gas centrifuges continues at Zelenogorsk enrichment plant
In the uranium enrichment shop of JSC PO Electrochemical Plant, the third in 2020 line of sections of the main technological equipment equipped with gas centrifuges (GC) of the latest generation was successfully put into operation. The commissioning of new equipment is being implemented as part of a program to modernize production facilities in the Fuel Division with a phased replacement of old GCs of previous generations.
Sections of the main technological equipment with the latest generation GC are introduced at the ECP as part of the technical re-equipment of the enterprise starting in the spring of 2019.
(ECP Dec. 29, 2020)
In the uranium enrichment shop of JSC PO Electrochemical Plant, the fourth line of gas centrifuges (GC) of a new generation was launched on time in 2021.
By the end of 2021, a total of five stages of the GC will be re-equipped with new equipment.
(ECP Nov. 17, 2021)
With the commissioning of the fifth line of gas centrifuges of the new generation in 2021, JSC PO Electrochemical Plant completed the annual program of modernization of the separation production ahead of schedule.
(ECP Dec. 29, 2021)
Operational life of Zelenogorsk enrichment plant extended to 2048
The State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom agreed on a 30-year extension of the operational life of the existing nuclear installation of PO Electrochemical Plant JSC.
(ECP Oct. 3, 2019)
New generation of gas centrifuges put into operation at Zelenogorsk enrichment plant
In the uranium enrichment workshop of JSC PO Electrochemical Plant (part of the Fuel Company of Rosatom TVEL), work was completed on putting into operation a complete unit modernized by gas centrifuges of generation 9+. The phased introduction of the sections of the new block has been carried out since June 2019.
Centrifuges are manufactured and delivered by the Kovrov Mechanical Plant. PO ECP JSC became the second enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company after UECC JSC (Novouralsk), where modernization and centrifuges of a new generation took place.
(ECP Oct. 3, 2019)
Ice-breaking on river Kan with boats and explosions prevents floodings at Zelenogorsk enrichment plant
The JSC Electrochemical Plant (ECP) in Zelenogorsk performed a "a full range of anti-flood measures in the period from March to April" on river Kan, including icebreaking work boats and four series of explosions, with the result that the "risk of congestion in the area was reduced to zero".
(ECP April 22, 2016)
Licence renewal for Zelenogorsk enrichment plant
Russian nuclear regulators have approved a renewed operating licence for TVEL's JSC Electrochemical Plant (ECP) in Zelenogorsk.
The plant, one of four uranium enrichment plants operating in Russia, is now licensed until July 2023. The centrifuge enrichment plant is the focus of ROSATOM investment, aiming to increase its capacity from 8.7 to 12 million SWU per year by 2020.
(WNN July 30, 2013)
Capacity increase planned for Zelenogorsk enrichment plant
Uranium enrichment capacity at TVEL's JSC Electrochemical Plant (ECP) in Zelenogorsk in Russia's Krasnoyarsk Region will be boosted by at least 50%, according to Sergey Kiriyenko, director general of Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to the plant on 3 June, Kiriyenko said that 5.5 billion roubles ($198 million) will be invested in the ECP plant in 2011. However, a long-term investment programme sees 45 billion to 65 billion roubles ($1.6 billion to $2.3 billion) being spent on modernizing and expanding the facility.
Kiriyenko was cited by Nuclear.Ru as saying that the plant's current enrichment capacity is some 8.7 million SWU (separative work units) per year. However, he added, "A minimum level we have to raise it to is 12 million SWU a year."
(WNN June 7, 2011)
(Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine - AECC )
Aerial view: Google Maps
> See also: Tails upgrading in Russia
Angarsk enrichment plant to resume enrichment of fresh uranium, while continuing re-enrichment of depleted uranium stockholdings
Russia's Angarsk ElectroChemical Combine (AECC in Irkutsk) will begin enriching uranium hexafluoride supplied by the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC in Seversk) in 2024. Both are part of Rosatom's fuel company TVEL. AECC Director Vyacheslav Glushenkov said the plant was currently processing its tailing dumps [? - tails!] to extracting additional uranium. The plant extracts uranium-235 for re-use in nuclear fuel from the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUHF) stored on site.
Since December 2014 AECC has focused on extracting uranium-235 stored DUHF.
The existing DUHF reserves at AECC will provide raw materials until 2035. "But starting next year we will also have raw materials from the Siberian Chemical Combine," said Glushenkov.
(NEI Dec. 8, 2023)
Angarsk uranium enrichment plant producing 2,500 t U annually by re-enriching depleted uranium tails
The Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex (AECC) has been dedicated to tails
upgrading since at least 2014, producing approx. 2 500tU [equivalent natural uranium] annually for immediate consumption.
(Global Inventories of Secondary Uranium Supplies , IAEA-TECDOC-2030, Nov. 2023 (2.4MB PDF))
Presidential Council on Human Rights concerned about storage of depleted uranium hexafluoride in open air at Angarsk
The Presidential Council on Human Rights (HRC) is concerned about radiation safety at the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant.
"The problem of ensuring safety during long-term container storage in open areas of the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine of depleted uranium hexafluoride (hereinafter referred to as DUHF), a by-product of uranium enrichment, remains relevant," the council's recommendations based on the results of the visiting meeting in Irkutsk say.
They note that "DUHF is toxic and radioactive, under certain conditions it is volatile, its storage in open areas of the Angarsk electrolysis chemical plant is particularly dangerous due to the significant volumes of stored material (taking into account the total volume of 1 million tonnes of DUHF, stored in four nuclear fuel cycle enterprises, the volume of DUHF at the sites of the Angarsk electrolysis chemical plant can be estimated at hundreds of thousands of tonnes)."
According to the Council, satellite imagery for October 28, 2018 and February 10, 2019 shows that containers continue to be stored in open areas and do not become smaller. Rostekhnadzor believes that the containers with DUHF are stored in open areas under the risk of depressurization - due to corrosion of containers and the risk of aircraft crashes, since the chemical plant site is several tens of kilometers from Irkutsk airport.
The HRC noted that the depressurization of containers with DUHF entails environmental risks, as well as the risk of radiation pollution. So, when exposed to moisture from the air, depleted uranium hexafluoride forms hydrofluoric acid (hazard class II), the vapors of which, when MPC is exceeded, strongly irritate the upper respiratory tract and mucous membranes, can cause acute and chronic poisoning, changes in the digestive and respiratory organs, and cardiovascular system, as well as changes in the composition of the blood.
The capacities available in Russia for converting (reconverting) DUHF into a chemically less active state (oxide form) have not yet solved the problem, since they cannot cope with large volumes of DUHF. [...]
The HRC recommended the EMERCOM of Russia and the Angarsk administration to publish plans for protecting the population in the event of container depressurization, and Rosatome, TVEL JSC to Rostekhnadzor to prepare a report on the storage conditions of DUHF at industrial enterprises, to compile a review of the DUHF conversion technologies, and to develop a roadmap for speedy transfer of DUHF to a less dangerous form.
(Interfax Aug. 21, 2019)
Angarsk uranium enrichment plant re-enriching depleted uranium tails
After the sublimation plant [that changes the physical state of the UF6 feed from solid to gaseous] stopped operation, the enrichment plant was fed with depleted uranium (tails) left from former enrichment work. The tails are re-enriched to natural-uranium equivalent.
(AECC Nov. 18, 2015)
Today the plant operates in the so-called "mine operation", being engaged in processing of depleted uranium hexafluoride, of which enough reserves are available for decades of trouble-free operation of the enrichment plant. The secondary waste uranium hexafluoride is sent to the Zelenogorsk Electrochemical Plant (TVEL Fuel Company) for further processing. Thus, the plant is freeing its area of uranium-bearing materials.
(AECC Feb. 11, 2016)
Properties and fate of radioactive waste to be removed from storage site at Angarsk uranium enrichment plant unclear - hearing reveals; no explanation for presence of artificial nuclides given
The Russian uranium enrichment enterprise Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine (AECC) admitted at a public hearing in early December that radioactive waste containing uranium, transuranic elements, and uranium fission products are in storage at its "Site 310." But with no detailed plan about what to do next with the waste, the facility and the waste's future remains under debate.
The public hearing was convened in Angarsk, Irkutsk Region in Southwestern Siberia, on December 5 to discuss the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the proposed project of decommissioning the storage facilities of Site 310 – which will require relocating the waste contained inside them, with, so far, no specific address available for where send it.
The Environmental Impact Assessment report was thus sent back for further review.
The AECC's Derzhavin gave the following description of the waste:
"Site 310 holds process waste in the solid physical state. According to record-keeping data, the total mass of the waste is 1,910.97 tons. The total volume is 1,942.5 cubic meters. As regards the chemical composition, the waste is presented as a mix of fluorides, oxides, and carbonates of natural isotopes of uranium. Besides uranium isotopes, the radioactivity of the waste is due to the presence of transuranic and fission elements. The average uranium content in the process waste does not exceed 1 percent."
No clarity was provided to the question of which transuranium elements exactly are present in the waste. As transuranium elements are not found in natural uranium, it stands to reason that the AECC's operations involved reprocessed uranium, possibly of foreign origin. The presence of transuranic elements such as plutonium, neptunium, or americium, would make the waste that much more dangerous and difficult to handle.
Besides, the information presented at the hearing is at odds with the combine's environmental safety report, which states that "radioactive waste is generated as a result of processing raw material of natural origin, composed only of natural uranium radionuclides."
(Bellona Dec. 19, 2014)
> View full Bellona report
> Download: Environmental Impact Assessment report (4.7MB PDF - in Russian)
Activist demands deconversion of depleted uranium of European origin stored in Angarsk
Russian journalist and anti-nuclear activist Swetlana Slobina demands the deconversion of the depleted uranium hexafluoride of European origin currently stored outside the Angarsk enrichment plant. The deconversion to an oxide form reduces the chemical hazards of the material. Slobina calls upon the European suppliers of the material to assist with making the deconversion possible.
Last year, the Angarsk enrichment company had announced that the hazards resulting from deteriorating containers had been eleminated by transfering the material to new containers.
(Neues Deutschland Dec. 10, 2012)
Demonstration in Angarsk against uranium enrichment and storage of Urenco's depleted uranium
In the first anti-nuclear demonstration ever held in Angarsk, 150 people protested on July 3, 2011, against environmental and social problems connected to the Angarsk enrichment plant and the storage of Urenco's depleted uranium hexafluoride (tails) in the city. The demonstration was held on the same day as a demonstration at Gronau, Germany, where some of the tails originated.
> View report and photos (Baikal Movement Live Journal July 3, 2011, in Russian)
Angarsk enrichment plant wants its premises excised from city territory to avoid legal conflict over depleted uranium hexafluoride (tails) storage
The uranium enrichment enterprise Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine (AECC), founded in 1954, is located right on the outskirts of Angarsk, a city of 241,000 in Russia's Irkutsk Region in Southeast Siberia. In fact, AECC's production-related sites - including open-air yards housing containers with highly toxic radioactive waste - are within city limits.
That highly toxic waste is depleted uranium hexafluoride, also called uranium tails - a by-product generated when enriching uranium for the production of nuclear reactor fuel. This waste is stored on the premises of AECC - and so, on the territory of the city of Angarsk. Environmentalists say it is toxic enough that a leak occurring through loss of sealing in a container may result in deaths as far as 32 kilometres away.
According to the legislation currently in force, a radioactive materials storage facility must be part of a unified state registry of sites of storage or disposal of hazardous materials, including radioactive waste. But the law also prohibits operation of such sites within city limits - and that is exactly the case with AECC.
The solution suggested by the plant was to change virtually nothing, and spend nothing on any works associated with the storage facility - but simply move AECC's premises out of the city boundaries on paper. The plant would physically stay where it is - but would not be legally part of the city's territory.
A public hearing was held on December 28, 2009, where the issue of granting AECC the formal status of an enterprise operating out of city limits - without it changing its physical location - was discussed. No decisions have been taken yet on the proposal.
(Bellona Jan. 29, 2010)
Apart from the project to increase ACEP capacity, a Russo-Kazakhstani joint-venture enterprise for uranium enrichment is to be sited on the vacant premises of Angarsk chemical electrolysis plant (ACEP) separation facility. The JV's first phase of one million SWU is to brought into operation in 2011, and full capacity of five million SWU is to be attained in 2017.
(Itar Tass Nov. 19, 2009)
(Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant - NCCP )
New PWR fuel production line commissioned at Novosibirsk nuclear fuel plant
TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom has launched the new fabrication facility for manufacturing of TVS-K nuclear fuel for PWR reactors at the site of Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant.
(TVEL Dec. 28, 2021)
New UO2 powder production line commissioned at Novosibirsk nuclear fuel plant
The Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant - part of Russia's TVEL - has commissioned a new production line for uranium dioxide powder. The new line uses a high-temperature 'dry' process, rather than 'wet' extraction technology currently used at the plant.
The new process uses high-temperature pyrohydrolysis to produce uranium dioxide (UO2) powder that will be formed into pellets and encased in alloy tubes to form fuel rods. Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP) held a ceremony yesterday to mark the commissioning of its new line, attended by Yuri Olenin, president of TVEL, and Victor Tolokonsky, governor of the Novosibirsk region.
The construction schedule for the pilot production line, which has a capacity of 400 tonnes per year, was approved by TVEL executives in August 2007. In 2010, all construction work was completed, equipment installed and the site was officially handed over for commissioning. Investment in the project totalled over 800 million roubles ($26 million).
According to TVEL, using the dry conversion process rather than the wet process will substantially reduce the cost of the UO2 powder produced. This is primarily due to maximum automation of the dry conversion process. In addition, the production capacity of the new line is three times that of several existing wet process production lines at the Novosibirsk plant.
TVEL also noted that new production line would have the advantage of reducing the amount of nuclear material feed placed in the process equipment, as well as cutting the amount of work in progress. The line should reduce the impact on the environment and minimize the plant's generation of hazardous waste.
(World Nuclear Association Sep. 2, 2010)
Factories linked to Novosibirsk nuclear fuel plant polluting major river in Siberia - prosecutors
About ten industrial facilities linked to a major nuclear-fuel plant in western Siberia are polluting the Ob River, local prosecutors said on March 16, 2006.
The factories are all linked to a waste-treatment plant owned by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP), a key part of Russia's nuclear-fuel production industry.
Local water-administration authorities refused to renew the plant's drainage license in October 2005, saying its treatment systems were inefficient and that it failed to report the precise volume of waste being dumped into the river and the waste's hazardous content.
"We set a threshold for chemical concentration in waste when issuing licenses to protect the environment," a local official said. "How we are supposed to issue a license if we do not even know the amount of waste dumped in the river?"
The official said that the NCCP should install efficient purification facilities before a license can be issued. NCCP officials, however, said the plant would not apply for a new license, as it no longer sent waste through the treatment plant, which is now used only by other enterprises.
A local court fined NCCP 25,000 rubles ($898) and ordered the suspension of waste disposal through the plant until a new license was granted.
Ecology experts are carrying out the evaluation of environmental damages caused by waste dumping into the Ob River, the world's fourth longest at about 2,300 miles, which flows from Russia's mountainous Altai Region through Novosibirsk and empties into the Arctic Ocean.
A controlling stake in NCCP is held by TVEL Corp. , a 100% state-owned joint-stock company that produces nuclear fuel for Russia's nuclear power plants.
(RIA Novosti March 16, 2006)
(Mining and Chemical Combine - MCC )
Zelenogorsk MOX fuel plant produced first MOX fuel with minor actinides from spent fuel for use in fast breeder reactor:
At the Rosatom Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory (FSUE MCC), the first three fuel assemblies with uranium-plutonium MOX fuel were accepted, which in their fuel composition contain not only plutonium, but also other transuranium elements - americium-241 and neptunium-237. Experimental fuel elements will be loaded into the BN-800 reactor at the Beloyarsk NPP in the spring of 2024 and will undergo pilot operation for three micro-campaigns (approximately one and a half years).
Minor actinides are all other transuranium elements, other than plutonium, formed in nuclear fuel as a result of nuclear reactions during operation in the reactor. Like plutonium, these elements do not occur naturally, but only arise from the transmutation of uranium. For nuclear radiochemists, the isotopes of neptunium, americium and curium are especially important, since they are of greatest importance in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and the management of radioactive waste. These elements are highly radioactive and toxic, generate a lot of heat, have a long half-life and are the most dangerous components of nuclear waste.
The Russian solution to the problem of minor actinides should be innovative fast neutron reactors. These installations can use not only enriched natural uranium as fuel, but also secondary products of the nuclear fuel cycle - depleted uranium and plutonium. In addition, calculations have shown that minor actinides from spent fuel under the influence of fast neutrons in the reactor will be divided into fragments, which represent a fairly wide range of radioactive and stable isotopes, but in general their potential danger will be much lower than that of the original minor actinides. The process of transmutation of minor actinides is also called "afterburning" in the reactor.
(TVEL Dec. 6, 2023)
Zelenogorsk MOX fuel plant produced pellets for first pilot batch of REMIX fuel:
The Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC JSC, an enterprise of the TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom) manufactured and accepted the first batch of [reprocessed] uranium-plutonium REMIX fuel for the VVER-1000 reactor.
Each of the six fuel assemblies of the standard TVS-2M design consists entirely of fuel elements containing [reprocessed] uranium-plutonium fuel pellets instead of traditional enriched uranium (one VVER-1000 fuel assembly has 312 fuel elements in its design). REMIX fuel pellets were manufactured by the Mining and Chemical Combine of Rosatom in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory (FGUP MCC).
(SCC Nov. 10, 2021)
License for Zelenogorsk MOX fuel plant suspended after unfavourable inspection results:
At the Mining and Chemical Combine (an enterprise of the State Corporation "Rosatom", division Environmental Solutions), during a scheduled inspection of the fuel fabrication plant by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision, a number of comments were identified regarding the mandatory requirements of the license validity conditions.
On July 25, the license was suspended.
In a short time, the plant took organizational and technical measures to eliminate the comments, and on July 12, in accordance with the procedure for licensing activities in the field of atomic energy use, an application was submitted to the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision to renew the license.
(MCC Aug. 2, 2021)
[...] the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision adopted a decision on August 18 to renew the license, issued for the right to industrial production of MOX fuel.
(MCC Aug. 19, 2021)
Comment invited on planned decommissioning of open-pool radioactive waste storage No. 365 at Zelenogorsk MOX fuel plant:
Public hearings are held on the decommissioning of RWDF No.365 open storage pool of Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Mining and Chemical Complex" at Zheleznogorsk.
Comments and suggestions are accepted until June 10, 2021.
> View: Notice of public hearing , Apr. 9, 2021 (in Russian)
IAEA peer review team unable to confirm long-term safety of deep well injection of radioactive waste at Russian nuclear fuel facilities:
> View here
MCC MOX fuel plant manufactures first full MOX core for BN-800 fast reactor:
The first complete reloading of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for Russia's BN-800 fast reactor at unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant has been manufactured at the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) in Zheleznogorsk.
(NEI July 28, 2020; MCC July 23, 2020)
Zelenogorsk MOX fuel plant to increase MOX fuel production for fast breeder reactor BN-800:
Russia's Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine is ramping up production of mixed uranium and plutonium oxide fuel, or MOX, in a push toward creating a closed nuclear fuel cycle, with the country's BN-800 fast neutron reactor as its centerpiece.
Zheleznogorsk's general director, Pyotr Gavrilov, said in a side interview last week at the World Nuclear Association's annual symposium that production of MOX by the MCC is expected to jump from 20 fuel assemblies this year to 400 by 2017. The hike requires regulatory approval, which Gavrilov said he expects, to get.
(Bellona Sep. 14, 2015)
First batch of MOX fuel pellets manufactured at Zelenogorsk:
The first batch of the newest nuclear fuel pellets, which are to be used in atomic energetics of the future, have been produced on Rosatom's Mining and Chemical Facility in Zheleznogorsk , Krasnoyarsk Region, the facility stated in a Tuesday (Sep. 16) press-release.
"The first batch of MOX [mixed oxide] fuel tablets - 10 kilograms, was produced by industrial equipment at the Mining and Chemical Facility [Rosatom State Corporation's enterprise] in a specially created unit," the facility stated.
This is the first time in history that the mining and chemical facility has produced this type of fuel for fast-neutron reactors.
(RIA Novosti Sep. 16, 2014)