View source for Engineering:BN-800 reactor

{{short description|Russian fast breeder nuclear reactor, operating since 2016}}
{{Infobox nuclear reactor
| name        = BN-800
| image       = 
| image_size  =
| caption     =
| location    = Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Oblast, {{wipe|Russia}}
| coordinates = <!-- Use {{coord}} -->
| concept     = [[Engineering:Breeder reactor#Fast breeder reactor|Fast breeder reactor]]
| generation  = Generation III+<ref name=generation>{{cite web|url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/advanced-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx|title=List of Generation III (and III+) reactors|website=world-nuclear.org|access-date=3 December 2022}}</ref>
| status      = Operational
| fuel   = U+Pu nitride, MOX, or metal
| fuel_state  = Solid
| spectrum_description    = Fast
| control     = <!-- Primary control method (e.g. rods) -->
| coolant     = Liquid sodium
| moderator   = <!-- Primary moderator (light water, graphite, etc.) -->
| electric    = 789 MW<sub>e</sub> net<br />885 MW<sub>e</sub> gross
| thermal     = 2100 MW<sub>th</sub>
| use         =  <!-- Generation or electricity, medical isotopes, etc. -->
| website     =  <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}

The '''BN-800 reactor''' (Russian: реактор БН–800) is a [[Physics:Liquid metal cooled reactor|sodium-cooled]] fast breeder reactor, built at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station, in Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Oblast, {{wipe|Russia}}. The reactor is designed to generate 880 MW of electrical power. The plant was considered part of the weapons-grade Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement signed between the United States and Russia. The reactor is part of the final step for a [[Chemistry:Plutonium|plutonium]]-burner core (a core designed to burn and, in the process, destroy, and recover energy from, plutonium) <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kütt |first1=Moritz |last2=Frieß |first2=Friederike |last3=Englert |first3=Matthias |title=Plutonium Disposition in the BN-800 Fast Reactor: An Assessment of Plutonium Isotopics and Breeding |journal=Science & Global Security |date=2 September 2014 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=188–208 |doi=10.1080/08929882.2014.952578 |bibcode=2014S&GS...22..188K |s2cid=73571691 |url=https://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs22kutt.pdf |access-date=5 November 2022 |language=en |issn=1547-7800}}</ref> The plant reached its full power production in August 2016.<ref name=fullpower>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Russian-fast-reactor-reaches-full-power-1708165.html|title=Russian fast reactor reaches full power|website=www.world-nuclear-news.org|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref> According to Russian business journal ''Kommersant'', the BN-800 project cost 140.6 billion rubles (roughly 2.17 billion dollars).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Rosatom-postpones-fast-reactor-project-report-say|title=Rosatom postpones fast reactor project, report says|website=www.world-nuclear-news.org|access-date=13 August 2019}}</ref>

==Design==
The plant is a pool-type LMFBR, in which the reactor, coolant pumps, intermediate heat exchangers and associated piping are all located in a common liquid sodium pool. This is similar to the general design of EBR-II, which went into service in 1963, but is otherwise significantly different. For example, EBR-II used metallic fuel, which is the major factor in its inherent safety, while BN-800 uses oxide fuel. The design of this plant was started in 1983 and was completely revised in 1987 after the Chernobyl disaster and to a somewhat lesser degree in 1993, according to the new safety guidelines. After the second revision, output power was increased by 10% to 880 MW due to the increased efficiency of the power generator steam turbines.

The reactor core is, in size and mechanical properties, very similar to the [[Engineering:BN-600 reactor|BN-600 reactor]] core, but the fuel composition is not. While BN-600 uses medium-enriched [[Chemistry:Uranium dioxide|uranium dioxide]], this plant burns [[Physics:MOX fuel|mixed uranium-plutonium fuel]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Mox fuel for Russia's BN 800 - Nuclear Engineering International|url=http://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsmox-fuel-for-russias-bn-800-4838389|website=www.neimagazine.com|access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> helping to reduce the weapons-grade plutonium stockpile and provide information about the functioning of the closed uranium-plutonium fuel cycle, which does not require plutonium separation or other chemical processing.

The unit employs a three-circuit coolant arrangement; sodium coolant circulates in both the primary and secondary circuits. Water and steam flow in the third circuit. This heat is transferred from the reactor core via several independent circulation loops. Each is composed of a primary sodium pump, two intermediate heat exchangers, a secondary sodium pump with an expansion tank located upstream, and an emergency pressure discharge tank. These feed a steam generator, which in turn supplies a condensing turbine that turns the generator.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atominfo.ru/newsb/k0062.htm|title=Фотографии со строительства блока с реактором БН-800 на Белоярской АЭС|website=atominfo.ru|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref>

Many infrastructure facilities were designed to accommodate both the BN-800 and a proposed [[Engineering:BN-1200 reactor|BN-1200 reactor]].<ref name=nei-20160114/>

==History==
Construction started in 1983 as Unit 4 at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. It was put on hold after Chernobyl. It resumed in 2006 and BN-800 achieved minimum controlled power in 2014, but issues led to further fuel development work. On 31 July 2015, the unit achieved minimum controlled power again - 0.13% of rated power. Commercial operation was expected to start before the end of 2016, with a power rating of 789 MWe.<ref name=nei-20160114>{{cite news |url=http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featurefast-reactor-progress-at-beloyarsk-4784803/ |title=Fast reactor progress at Beloyarsk |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=14 January 2016 |access-date=19 January 2016}}</ref>
The reactor was connected to the grid in February 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.powermag.com/russian-fast-reactor-connected-grid/|title=Russian Fast Reactor Connected to the Grid|date=1 February 2016|website=powermag.com|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref> and achieved full power for the first time in August 2016.<ref name=fullpower /> Commercial power production started on November 1, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Russias-BN-800-unit-enters-commercial-operation-01111602.html|title=Russia's BN-800 unit enters commercial operation|website=www.world-nuclear-news.org|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref>

The United States and Russia reached an agreement in 2001 to render a total of 34 tons of weapons grade plutonium into reactor grade plutonium to reach the "spent fuel standard," which is mixed with other more radioactive products within spent fuel.<ref name=bulletin>Pavel Podvig: [http://thebulletin.org/can-us-russia-plutonium-disposition-agreement-be-saved9389 ''Can the US-Russia plutonium disposition agreement be saved?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026085915/http://thebulletin.org/can-us-russia-plutonium-disposition-agreement-be-saved9389 |date=2016-10-26 }} Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 28. April 2016.</ref>

US president [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]] canceled construction of the US [[Physics:MOX fuel|MOX fuel]] fabrication facility in 2016, citing cost overruns. He proposed that the US share of plutonium be diluted with non-radioactive material and disposed of in the underground [[Physics:Waste Isolation Pilot Plant|WIPP]] facility.<ref name=bulletin/><ref name=wnn>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/UF-Obama-seeks-to-terminate-MOX-project-at-Savannah-River-10021601.html|title=Obama seeks to terminate MOX project at Savannah River|work=World Nuclear News|date=10 February 2016|access-date=6 July 2017}}</ref> However, the dilution could be reversed, and the material reconverted into weapons-grade plutonium.<ref name=bulletin />

On October 3, 2016, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the agreement to be suspended because the US did not meet its obligations.<ref>[http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201610030004 Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 03.10.2016 № 511] (in Russian).</ref>

In January 2020 the reactor started commercial operation with the first batch of [[Physics:MOX fuel|MOX]] reprocessed [[Chemistry:Uranium|uranium]]-[[Chemistry:Plutonium|plutonium]] fuel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.powermag.com/mox-nuclear-fuel-loaded-in-russian-reactor-more-to-come/|title=MOX Nuclear Fuel Loaded in Russian Reactor, More to Come|last=Larson|first=Aaron|date=2020-01-28|website=POWER Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05}}</ref>

In 2023 the reactor completed one year of operation using a nearly full load of uranium (96%)/plutonium/americium/neptunium MOX fuel.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wang |first=Brian |date=2023-12-15 |title=Russian Fast Reactor Makes Progress to Eliminating Nuclear Waste {{!}} NextBigFuture.com |url=https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/12/russian-fast-reactor-makes-progress-to-eliminating-nuclear-waste.html |access-date=2023-12-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Plutonium disposal==
The BN-800 could be used to close the [[Physics:Nuclear fuel cycle|fuel cycle]]. The core load of 15 tons of material consists mostly of U-238 and about 20.5% plutonium. This could be taken from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel assemblies.

==See also==
* [[Engineering:Generation III reactor|Generation III reactor]]
* {{annotated link|Engineering:BN-Reactor}}
* {{annotated link|Engineering:BN-350 reactor}}
* {{annotated link|Engineering:BN-600 reactor}}
* {{annotated link|Engineering:BN-1200 reactor}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
*''The content in this article is from the existing Russian and German Wikipedia equivalents.

==External links==
*{{cite web |url=https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/45/089/45089480.pdf?r=1&r=1
 |title=BN-1200 Reactor Power Unit Design Development |author1=B.A. Vasilyev |author2=S.F. Shepelev |author3=M.R. Ashirmetov |author4=V.M. Poplavsky |publisher=IAEA |work=International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR13) Presentations, (p. v). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): IAEA.|date=4 March 2013 |access-date=14 March 2019}}
*[http://euanmearns.com/the-bn-800-fast-reactor-a-milestone-on-a-long-road/ The BN-800 Fast Reactor – a Milestone on a Long Road]

{{Nuclear fission reactors}}

{{Coord missing|Russia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bn-800 Reactor}}
[[Category:Liquid metal fast reactors]]

{{Sourceattribution|BN-800 reactor}}