Senior-Level DOE Delegation Visits Russian Nuclear Facilities to Explore U.S.-Russian Civil Nuclear Cooperation

April 24, 2012

A delegation from the U.S. Department of Energy visits a Russian nuclear facilitiy.

A delegation from the U.S. Department of Energy and national laboratory personnel, led by Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Peter Lyons, visited several Russian nuclear facilities and research institutes from April 10-19, 2012. The visit was the second part of an exchange between DOE and the Russian State Corporation for Atomic Energy “Rosatom,” under the auspices of the Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Security Working Group. In August 2011, Rosatom officials conducted a similar visit to several DOE facilities and universities in the United States. Over the course of these visits, the two sides have identified many new areas that would complement and deepen existing cooperation.

Dr. Lyons and his delegation visited the following institutes and sites:

• Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in Zarechny, location of the operating BN-600 fast-breeder reactor and the BN-800 construction site. The BN-800 is intended to be used for disposing of excess Russian weapons-grade plutonium, in accordance with the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement;
• Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) in Dmitrovgrad. This institute has several research reactors assisting in development of advanced reactor fuel, materials testing and radio-chemical processing;
• Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) in Zheleznogorsk. Since the shutdown of the plutonium production reactors located there, MCC’s mission is evolving to serve as a back-end center for the Russian nuclear complex. It has both wet and dry storage sites for nuclear fuel, and is in the process of constructing a pilot spent fuel reprocessing facility. MCC has also been designated as the site for fabricating mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for the BN-800 reactor.
• Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering (OKBM) in Nizhny Novgorod. OKBM is a major reactor design and institute, which has been involved in fast-reactor design, including the BN-800 reactor and a floating nuclear power plant. In addition, they are involved in the development of small modular reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, and advanced simulation codes for licensing and design.