MIKHAIL CHUDAKOV | THE INTERVIEW


two small 250 MWt HTGRs that drive a single turbine. The HTR-PM project followed China’s HTR-10, a 10 MW experimental high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, which went online in 2000 and reached full capacity in 2003. This reactor has advantages and also some


disadvantages. This is a pilot, first reactor and, as I mentioned, the role of pilot reactors is to learn the lessons for future developments. It is the first of a series of reactors that China is planning. Their advantages include high efficiency and high temperature using helium gas to produce steam at 700oC which can be used for hydrogen production and for industrial purposes. The pebble bed fuel is very safe – some 436,000 balls or pebbles in each of these reactors. These are microchips of seven grams of uranium surrounded with silicon and also with carbon which will never melt even if left without gas coolant – just air is enough just to take away residual heat making it a safe reactor with high parameters. But it raises questions about the spent fuel about


how to the process it. It is very difficult while fuel assemblies for pressurised water reactors can be cut up and dissolve in acids from which you can extract fission products some of which can be re-used. For pebble fuel this is still under investigation. And there is also a need for new materials which


can withstand the high temperatures. This is one of the reasons why, still now after a couple of years, they are not at full power. They are still experiencing some issues. But all this shows the important role of pilot reactors – development, construction and then investigation to improve and eliminate all the problems before deciding how to use it. However, China has large-scale plans to use HTGRs to support their chemical industry. But for widespread use of pebble bed HTGRs, I don’t know because the fuel is a bit complicated. You can never melt the fuel, which is one of its advantages. But on the other hand it is almost impossible or very expensive to reprocess compared with a standard fuel assembly.


NEI: What would you say is the best technology for maritime use? I don’t know what the best technology is, but we are working on this in the Agency and are going to launch the ATLAS programme – Atomic Technology Licensed At Sea – for propulsion and for floating NPPs. There is a lot of discussion, not about specific reactors, but mainly about safety, security and non-proliferation. Around 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions is from the cargo fleet and there are proposals to use propulsion based on nuclear power. Many countries are already discussing this. There are also a lot of limitations imposed by harbours. Many harbours restrict vessels under pressure which


is why vessels with pressurised water reactors will be banned from some harbours. There are discussions about molten salt reactors because they are not under pressure. But there is no experience with molten salt reactors. China just created the first experimental molten-salt reactor and other countries are of course working on them. But there are questions about materials and about the fuel itself, as well as questions about chemicals and about construction. But there is growing interest in their future development because they operate at normal pressure.


NEI: Some SMR projects, especially in the US and Europe, are planning to use fast neutron reactors. Is this a bit too ambitious? Yes, yes, this is really ambitious. However, fast reactors can solve two problems. First, they can develop new fuel for themselves. Uranium-238 is converted into plutonium-239 which can be reused in mixed uranium- plutonium oxide (mox) fuel. Just a few countries are currently using mox fuel. Fast reactors can use practically all uranium-238. After reprocessing the used fuel it is possible to avoid any further enrichment. You only need enriched fuel at the beginning, after which the fuel can be recycled. The Brest-OD-300 lead-cooled small fast reactor under construction in Russia under the supervision of Yevgeny Adamov is designed to operate in this way. We will see how it works because it will have a reprocessing plant available near the reactor which will recycle the used fuel for re-use. Already spent fuel from thermal reactors is being reused in fast reactors. The second great advantage of small fast reactors is that they can transmute minor actinides. Although these constitute only 0.1% of spent fuel, they remain highly radioactive for a million years. These actinides do not occur in nature but are the result of fission processes in the reactor. They are one of the reasons why nuclear power is criticised by the Greens – they represent waste that remains radioactive for a million years. However, in fast reactors, fast neutrons with high


energy can transmute these elements to a more stable form with radioactivity that lasts only for 300-400 years, which is great progress. And there are other advantages of fast reactors. They don’t operate under pressure like PWRs. There can also be advantages of small fast reactors such as a Brest reactor under the Proryv (Breakthrough) programme in Russia, and we will see how they will work in practice. But in reality, in operation, it’s just in a few countries – Russia, China, and India – that operate fast reactors while others are thinking about it.


NEI: Overall, how do you see the contribution of nuclear energy to meting global targets for reducing CO2 emissions? In order to fulfil the real obligations on CO2 emissions it is my understanding that we should have not just 9% of nuclear electricity in global power generation but 25-40%. And we hope it can be achieved this century. ■


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Above: The floating nuclear plant Akademik Lomonosov has been operating as a pilot and first-of-a- kind project for five years in Chukotka supplying heat and electricity, but has seen a lot of upgrades during this period.


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