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MOX nuclear reprocessing: a Russian project leader’s safety fears

He [ Yevgeny (name changed)]  then explains that colleagues and superiors of many years have been leaving the BN-800 project in recent weeks. Their vacated positions, he says, are being given to new employees just starting their careers.

“People who have no experience with the difficulties sodium coolant can cause now head our departments,”… “And you know what? I’m going to leave, too. Or, no, I’m going to run.” 

From Plutonium to Power, Spiegal Online 09/07/2012 Russia To Produce Electricity with Former Nukes By Kerstin Brandt   “…….. plutonium is not uranium. It’s more toxic and more radioactive, and it’s not easy to dilute.

Yevgeny doesn’t speak English, so he doesn’t understand the disarmament slogan “Global Zero.” Until recently, he was convinced that Russia, alone among world’s countries, had mastered fast reactor technology. He himself worked at Beloyarsk’s fast reactor for many years, after all. But since the plant’s managers assigned him to the construction of the successor model BN-800, Yevgeny has grown doubtful.

The reactor’s scheduled operational launch, originally planned for 2014, has now been pushed forward, putting massive pressure on the construction project. “What a farce!” Yevgeny exclaims. “And I don’t even understand why. There’s no reason for such a hurry!”

These days, Yevgeny finds himself plagued by thoughts he never had before. He worries about the welding seams, the pipes, the valves on the cooling systems, all of which need to be strong enough to withstand the fission energy of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Yevgeny finds himself wondering why fast reactors are celebrated in Russia as the technology of the future, when they’re considered a failure in the West. And he feels as if he’s being sent out to face an opponent with the destructive force of 8,500 nuclear bombs, armed with nothing more than hydraulic pumps, pressure gauges and Geiger counters.

“Construction and assembly of the BN-800 are proceeding at great speed, and thus we expect to be able to launch operations as soon as October or November 2013,” Sergei Kiriyenko, general director of the state-run nuclear holding corporation Rosatom, announced late last year. A speedy start to operations at BN-800 would ensure Russia a technological head start, which would in turn translate to considerable advantages on the global market. China has expressed interested in a fast reactor made in Russia, and is in negotiations with Rosatom to outfit two of its nuclear power plant units with reactors of the BN-800 type.

And Russia, where protesting locals and temperamental private investors rarely get in the way of the state implementing its will, is an easier place than most to try out risky technology.

State-run Rosatom doesn’t give foreign journalists the permit necessary for an official visit to the plant, but Yevgeny knows another route, through a neighborhood of dachas, or Russian summer homes. Signs along the side of the road declare, “Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station — the Pursuit of Perfection.”

An industrial building, angular and unadorned, comes into view through the windshield. The dome that would normally hold the containment facility at many other nuclear plants is lacking here…..

Up to 20 percent of the hazardous bomb material is added to mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel. The Beloyarsk workforce has no regular routine for dealing with such concentrations of plutonium, many times higher than in the usual type of MOX fuel — which is what is used, for example, in Germany.

“All of a sudden they’re saying the MOX fuel is going to start arriving in November! And delivery of the sodium coolant will start this year as well!” Yevgeny bursts out. “How are we supposed to manage that? Neither the storage facility nor the three cooling system circuits will be done by then.”

Without being asked, he begins to tell stories of defective components, cheap equipment and a schedule that is far too tight. “Purely because of the time shortage, many things are being assembled in a makeshift way,” he says. “Launching operations at a nuclear reactor that’s been built that way is enough to teach you the true meaning of fear.”…..

Inexperienced Workers

If Rosatom director Kiriyenko has his way, the BN-800 will be fired up in just a few months, and American and Russian politicians will announce once again that the world has been made safer from terrorists and nuclear bombs. Meanwhile, the temperature in the underground reactor pressure vessel in Zarechny will rise to around 550 degrees Celsius (1020 degrees Fahrenheit).

From that point on, the reactor will begin splitting the fast neutrons of plutonium nuclei. And from then on, every welded seam must be secure, and complex safety systems must keep the nuclear reactor’s spent fuel under control. It will be the responsibility of Yevgeny and his colleagues to make sure that an unfortunate accident doesn’t lead to precisely the situation the new treaty is meant to prevent: weapons-grade plutonium slipping out of control near a residential area…..

He [ Yevgeny (name changed)]  then explains that colleagues and superiors of many years have been leaving the BN-800 project in recent weeks. Their vacated positions, he says, are being given to new employees just starting their careers.

“People who have no experience with the difficulties sodium coolant can cause now head our departments,” Yevgeny complains. His gaze comes to rest in the rearview mirror, where he watches the concrete hull of the new BN-800 disarmament reactor recede into the distance. “And you know what? I’m going to leave, too. Or, no, I’m going to run.” http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/energy-from-the-bomb-russia-to-produce-electricity-with-former-nukes-a-854318.html

September 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | reprocessing, Russia