Rosatom Marks Significant Progress in BREST-OD-300 Fast Reactor Construction at Seversk’s Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex

Rosatom has successfully installed a 165-ton steel reactor baseplate at the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) in Seversk, Tomsk Region, marking a significant advancement in the construction of a unique power unit featuring the innovative BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor. This milestone includes the placement of the reactor vessel’s lower tier into the reactor shaft. Central to the PDEC, under construction at the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk, a TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM enterprise, is the 300 MW nuclear power plant (NPP) powered by the leadcooled BREST-OD-300 fast reactor. This reactor is a cornerstone of Rosatom’s strategic “Proryv” (Breakthrough) project, emphasizing natural safety principles.

The PDEC also encompasses facilities for a closed nuclear fuel cycle on-site, including a unit for fabricating uranium-plutonium nitride fuel and another for reprocessing irradiated fuel. The BREST-OD-300 reactor represents a significant innovation in nuclear technology, as it generates its primary energy component, plutonium-239, by transmuting uranium-238, which constitutes over 99% of natural uranium. This contrasts with the current use of uranium-235, which accounts for only about 0.7% of natural uranium in thermal reactors. Implementing such technologies promises to dramatically enhance the efficiency of natural uranium utilization. In the global energy resource landscape, uranium holds approximately an 86% share, starkly overshadowing coal (8%), oil (3%), and gas (3%).