To begin with, let's note as a fact: China's first fast reactor (China Experimental Fast Reactor) was built right in the capital - in the southwest of Beijing, about 45 kilometers from the center. Here, behind the sixth transport ring, is the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE). If you want - an analogue of the Kurchatov Institute, which grew out of the secret Laboratory No. 2 on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow.
The special correspondent of Rossiyskaya Gazeta and the film crew of the Russia 24 TV channel were the first foreign journalists to gain access to the nuclear facility in Beijing. Previously, there were only nuclear specialists who helped in the construction and launch of the CEFR.
“Our Institute of Atomic Energy, now also known as the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1950,” President-Director of CIAE Mr. Wan Gang greeted the journalists from Russia. - Another very important date for us is September 27, 1958, when the first heavy water research reactor was launched on the territory of the Institute with the assistance of the USSR. In the same 58th, with the participation of Soviet specialists, the first accelerator-cyclotron was launched here …
"Plan 863": stage by stage
Now, more than fifty years later, the first research facilities have been taken out of service. The cyclotron, according to the director of the institute, was dismantled, as only a large magnet remained as a memory. The building of the first reactor has been preserved, as we were able to see by going to it through a large, well-groomed institute park with neatly paved footpaths. In the central part we stopped for a minute in front of the marble busts of atomic scientists - the luminaries of their Chinese Atomic Project.
They do not hide their participation in research and development, which served to create the first for the PRC atomic (1964) and then hydrogen (1967) bombs, on the contrary, they are proud of it. As well as a contribution to the creation of the first nuclear submarine (1971) for the Chinese Navy and the first satellite (1971) of the Earth, launched in the Celestial Empire.
But now, according to the director of the institute, the main task of the team headed by him is the development of nuclear energy, including nuclear energy on a new technological platform. In China, Mr. Wan Gang emphasized, a three-stage development strategy has been adopted in this area: a thermal reactor - a fast reactor - a thermonuclear reactor.
As for traditional reactors, in which uranium-235 nuclei are fissioned by so-called thermal (slow) neutrons, in China they have long since moved from a purely scientific sphere to the area of commercial operation. According to official data presented at AtomExpo-2015 in Moscow by the state corporation CNNC, it has nine nuclear power units in operation, twelve are under construction, and even more are planned. The goal is to raise the share of nuclear power by 2020 to six percent (80 GW), and in the future to catch up or even surpass France in these indicators.
So far, the share of nuclear generation in the total energy balance of China is about two percent. But this is for now. The period of apprenticeship, when the first nuclear power plants were built here according to French, Canadian, American, Russian projects, is passing quickly. Most of the newly constructed power units are already using or intend to use reactors and other critical equipment of Chinese or joint development. That is, the first stage - various types of thermal reactors - China has worked out and is moving, figuratively speaking, to the second level.
In the state plan for the development of high technologies, or, as it is more often called, in the "plan 863", the development of fast reactors is listed as a top priority. The same task was included in the medium-term program for the development of science and technology for 2006-2020.
However, they began to look closely at fast reactors, which are also called breeders, behind the Great Wall back in the late 60s of the last century. By that time, it was known that the very idea of expanded reproduction of nuclear fuel (breeder - in other words, a breeder) was expressed in January 1943 in the USA by Leo Szilard and picked up in the USSR. Since 1949, under the leadership of Academician Alexander Leipunsky in the Soviet Union, multifaceted research work has been carried out to create fast reactors. But the first experimental breeder reactor with a thermal capacity of 0.2 MW was launched in the United States, at the nuclear center in Idaho, on December 20, 1951.
In the USSR, a similar facility was commissioned four years later in Obninsk (Kaluga Region), where the Physics and Power Engineering Institute is located and where Academician Leipunsky worked at that time. A year later, in the same place, in Obninsk, an experimental reactor BR-2 was launched: metallic plutonium served as its fuel, and mercury was used as a coolant.
In the same 1956, a consortium of several American companies began construction of a 65 MW Fermi-1 demonstration breeder. Ten years later, an accident occurred on it with the melting of the core. The reactor was dismantled at great expense, after which the interest of the American industry in this topic faded.
Meanwhile, in the USSR, an experimental BR-5 was built and launched (after reconstruction it became known as BR-10) - in Obninsk. And at the Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk region) - a multipurpose BOR-60, in which MOX fuel (a mixture of uranium and plutonium dioxides) was used and liquid sodium was used as a coolant. BOR-60 is still in service, and there is a possibility of extending its operation until 2019.
France spent five billion dollars on the construction of a full-scale nuclear power plant with a Superphenix fast neutron reactor, but due to problems with the plutonium-fueled core, this facility was shut down in 1996 …
The only (all over the world!) Operating fast neutron power reactor is the BN-600 reactor at the third unit of the Beloyarsk NPP. It is the record holder for the length of service - it has been in commercial operation since 1980 and can be extended until 2030. In addition, it is the most powerful sodium-cooled fast reactor to date.
First in the new century
preparatory procedures for power start-up. Both reactors were born at the V. I. Afrikantova. Academician Fyodor Mitenkov, scientific director of OKBM, was awarded the Global Energy International Prize in 2004 for his outstanding contribution to the development of physical and technical foundations and the creation of fast neutron reactors.
As the designers assure, the BN-800 project has implemented important innovations to improve nuclear and radiation safety. They are based on passive principles, which means that their effectiveness does not depend on the reliability of the operation of auxiliary systems and the human factor.
All this was fully taken into account when designing the CEFR - the first and so far the only fast neutron rector built, tested and officially commissioned in the 21st century. The Chinese Institute of Atomic Energy is especially proud of this fact and thanks the Russian colleagues for the active help.
The first contacts between specialists of the two countries on this project began in 1992. The working group from the Russian side included employees of the OKBM im. Afrikantov (Nizhny Novgorod), the St. Petersburg Institute "ATOMPROEKT" and the Physics and Power Engineering Institute (Obninsk, Kaluga Region).
“By that time, our specialists already had an idea about fast reactors with a sodium coolant,” says the director of the institute, Wan Gang. - In addition, we studied thermal hydraulics, neutron physics, materials science, peculiarities of handling nuclear fuel and special equipment. Along the way, the goals of the entire project were clarified. First, the creation of the reactor plant itself. It was determined that it would be an experimental reactor with a thermal power of 65 megawatts and an electric power of 20 megawatts. Secondly, the development of new technologies. Third, training. And already in the final - the planned tests, research, experiments. We needed CEFR as a basis, a platform, so that, having received the necessary experience, we could move towards the creation of demonstration, and then serial, commercial power units of nuclear power plants with fast neutron reactors.
As in Russia, only stricter
The CEFR conceptual project was developed by Chinese specialists and submitted to the Russian colleagues for consideration. Then, taking into account the comments and counter-proposals received, the entire concept, including the technical requirements and the main components of the reactor, was discussed in detail at a joint meeting in May 1993 and received top-level approval.
In the second half of the 90s, the stage of engineering design began. The already mentioned OKBM, St. Petersburg ATOMPROEKT, FEI and OKB Gidropress (Podolsk, Moscow Region) formed, in the words of their Chinese colleagues, "project cooperation" and worked in a coordinated, professional manner, taking into account all the requirements and wishes of the customer. And the initial guidelines of the Chinese side were even stricter than the standards of radiation safety, standards for radioactive releases and discharges, emergency situations in force at that time in the Russian nuclear power industry.
“Since it was decided to build CEFR within the boundaries of Beijing, and this is not just a big city - the capital of China, we made special requirements for ensuring security,” explained Xu Mi, the chief scientist of CNNC, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, when meeting with Russian journalists. - Even though the probability of core melting in this reactor is negligible, we insisted on the use of a passive residual heat removal system. And - at the installation of a trap tray for a hypothetical melt of the core. The main circulating pumps (MCPs) were ordered in Russia, but in case of emergency cooldown they were asked to add a flywheel to their design, thereby increasing the run-out time of the MCP, that is, the circulation of the coolant in case of power loss …
According to Xu Mi, in case of any emergency or even beyond design basis accident, there should be no need to evacuate the population - everything should be localized inside the power unit or within the boundaries of its protected area. The National Nuclear Safety Agency of the People's Republic of China did not consider such a campaign to be reinsurance and supported the position of their scientists.
“After all, from the wall of the building in which the CEFR is mounted, to the fence that encloses the institute, it is only 153 meters,” the academician emphasizes with a soft smile. - And then people just live. They must not be endangered. That is why today, looking back, we are satisfied that the criteria we have put forward meet the safety standards and requirements for fourth-generation reactors.
In July 2000, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the CEFR Construction Agreement was signed. In September of the same year, Wan Gang was appointed director of the reactor under construction, now he is the director of the entire institute and remembers the events on its territory in detail.
- It took only two years from the pouring of the first concrete to the installation of the ceiling over the reactor building (August 2002). At the end of 2008, the installation of the reactor block was completed. In May 2009, filling the circuit with sodium began. In June 2010, they started loading fuel into the reactor, and already on July 21, they reached criticality for the first time. Exactly one year later, on July 21, 2011, we were able to increase the capacity to 40 percent of the nominal, which at that time was a milestone for us …
Infographics WG / Anton Perepletchikov / Leonid Kuleshov / Maria Pakhmutova / Alexander Emelianenkov
To make this possible, in the design bureau and at the enterprises of Rosatom involved in cooperation with Chinese partners, in 2003-2005, the main circulating pumps of the primary and secondary circuits, intermediate heat exchangers, a steam generator, and devices for reloading were designed, manufactured and sent to their destination. fuel - only seven types of critical equipment in the reactor plant, instrumentation and fuel for the first three loads.
But before that, technical projects of the monitoring and control system (MCS of the NPP), the technical design of the reactor plant and the technical design of the main building of the NPP were developed. Russian specialists fulfilled their contractual obligations in full and on time.
Teach the student to have someone to learn from
The high-tech "hardware" supplied from Russia would have remained iron, and a nuclear reactor would hardly have become an effective tool for researchers if the training of operating personnel had not been taken care of in time. And they started it well in advance.
The current CEFR Deputy Director for Operations and Safety, Wu Chunliang, is from the first batch of senior reactor control engineers trained in Russia. Back in 2002, they were trained at the RIAR Training Center - Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. There they were also able to see the BOR-60 multipurpose reactor in operation and to be trained on it. Then, already under the physical start-up program, they studied at the special stands of the Physics and Power Engineering Institute in Obninsk and the Afrikantov OKBM in Nizhny Novgorod.
“After returning home, together with Russian specialists, we participated in the commissioning of various CEFR systems and equipment,” says Wu Chunliang, who met us at the control room. - Then we took an exam organized by the National Agency for Nuclear Safety. In 2008, they received licenses for the right to perform such work and became the control operators of the first batch. And then, the training of the second batch of operators was carried out already at home - mainly at the CEFR itself.
As a result, according to Wu Chunliang, a complete and holistic training system has developed. 55 operators, including women, have already been licensed by the supervisory authority to operate the experimental reactor.
At the time of our conversation, there were only two operators at the control panel, and one, the shift leader, was behind them. As they explained, this is quite enough to reliably, without fuss and nervousness, monitor all the parameters of the reactor plant and oversee the preventive work that is carried out from time to time on equipment in security zones.
After hearing this explanation, I could not resist and asked what was written in big red hieroglyphs on the wall behind the control room operators?
- This is the motto or, if you like, the principle of life of the entire institute, - the deputy director of CEFR smiled and immediately became serious. - You can translate it like this. First, give all your strength, all of yourself, for the good of the Motherland and the state. Second, be always one step ahead, study the experience of others, find and introduce new things. And third - stay honest in everything, cherish trust, maintain personal modesty.
A good motto, you see.
And it is not at all a superfluous appendix to the license of the operator of a nuclear installation.
