Construction of a 300-MW nuclear power unit showcasing a fuel specially developed for the reactor is underway in Siberia, a project that industry experts say could provide a dramatic leap forward in nuclear power technology.
The project is being hailed as a way to provide a “practically inexhaustible” source of fuel for nuclear power, as the fuel could be reprocessed, helping solve the problem of what to do with the spent nuclear fuel.
The new unit, part of a demonstration project by Russia’s state-owned Rosatom, features a BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast reactor and is included in what Rosatom calls a Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) at the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk, in Russia’s Tomsk region.
