BN-600 reactor

The BN-600 reactor is a <a href="/facts/Liquid_metal_cooled_reactor/IjBt4hKf">sodium-cooled</a> <a href="/facts/Fast_breeder_reactor/jt0VeXUa">fast breeder reactor</a>, built at the <a href="/facts/Beloyarsk_Nuclear_Power_Station/IMLFBEg9">Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station</a>, in <a href="/facts/Zarechny%2c_Sverdlovsk_Oblast/CCsgSjWC">Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Oblast</a>, <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a>. It has a 600 MWe gross capacity and a 560 MWe net capacity, provided to the <a href="/facts/Ural_Mountains/gzNoPkt6">Middle Urals</a> <a href="/facts/Power_grid/RkWPqjmG">power grid</a>. It has been in operation since 1980 and represents an improvement to the preceding <a href="/facts/BN-350_reactor/LjaedECz">BN-350 reactor</a>. In 2014, its larger sister reactor, the <a href="/facts/BN-800_reactor/px9oUVSJ">BN-800 reactor</a>, began operation.
The plant is a <a href="/facts/Pool_type_LMFBR/4F7zMYRJ">pool type LMFBR</a>, where the reactor, coolant pumps, intermediate heat exchangers and associated piping are all located in a common liquid <a href="/facts/Sodium/eYuSPu2V">sodium</a> pool. The reactor system is housed in a concrete rectilinear building and provided with filtration and gas containment.
In the first 24 years of operations, there have been 12 water-into-sodium leaks in the <a href="/facts/Steam_generator_(nuclear_power)/HbY2FP5U">steam generators</a>, routinely addressed by isolating the faulty module with gate valves. These incidents did not have off-site impact, did not generate radioactive material (sodium in the secondary circuit is not neutron-activated) and were not reported to IAEA, since they were deemed to have no impact on safety.
As of 2022, the cumulative "energy <a href="/facts/Availability_factor/2E0rrvl7">Availability factor</a>" recorded by the <a href="/facts/IAEA/o84JrwQ7">IAEA</a> was 76.3%.
The <a href="/facts/Reactor_core/RJv4geBq">reactor core</a> is 1.03 metres (3 ft 5 in) tall with a diameter of 2.05 metres (6 ft 9 in). It has 369 <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fuel/8RhAomlJ">fuel assemblies</a>, mounted vertically; each consists of 127 <a href="/facts/Fuel_rod/8RhAomlJ">fuel rods</a> enriched to between 17–26% <a href="/facts/Uranium-235/pe0RznDM">235U</a>. In comparison, normal enrichment in other Russian reactors is between 3–4% 235U. The control and <a href="/facts/SCRAM/C0TIBVKy">scram system</a> is composed of 27 reactivity control elements including 19 shimming rods, two automatic control rods, and six automatic emergency shut-down rods. <a href="/facts/On-power_refueling/a326x0zA">On-power refueling</a> equipment allows for charging the core with fresh fuel assemblies, repositioning and turning the fuel assemblies within the reactor, and changing control and scram system elements remotely.
The unit employs a three-circuit coolant arrangement; <a href="/facts/Sodium/eYuSPu2V">sodium</a> coolant circulates in both the primary and secondary circuits. Water and steam flow in the third circuit. The sodium is heated to a maximum of 550 °C (1,022 °F) in the reactor during normal operations. This heat is transferred from the reactor core via three independent circulation loops. Each has 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 <a href="/facts/Steam_generator_(nuclear_power)/HbY2FP5U">steam generator</a>, which in turn supplies a condensing turbine that turns the generator.
There is much international interest in the fast-breeder reactor at Beloyarsk. <a href="/facts/Japan/U5mz0SRT">Japan</a> has its own prototype fast-breeder reactors. The operation of the reactor is an international study in progress; Russia, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom currently participate.
The reactor is expected to operate up until 2040.

BN-600 reactor open-in-new

BN-600 reactor