KAERI and RIAR extend cooperation on fast research reactor

KAERI and RIAR signed a contract to carry out research on experimental fuel rods irradiated in the BOR-60 fast research reactor at KAERI on October 20,2015. Dimitrovgrad, Russia-based RIAR's BOR-60 is the world's only fast research reactor in operation. Commissioned in 1969, BOR-60 is fully contracted till the end of its lifetime in December 2020.

The agreement between and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) is part of Korea's plans to develop a prototype Generation IV sodium-cooled fast research reactor.

Dr. Hark Rho Kim, Senior Vice President, said that this year KAERI and RIAR have prepared another cooperation program for fuel rod irradiation tests till 2020 and this fuel rod irradiation test in BOR-60 is one of key milestones of SFR development. He added that KAERI is looking forward to enhancing cooperation with RIAR having the vast experience in irradiation testing.

RIAR director Alexander Tuzov said that the new contract was a key element of scientific and technological cooperation between RIAR and KAERI and the logical continuation of RIAR’s work over the last few years on radiation and materials science testing of construction materials in support of the Korean project. The 150 MWe Korean research reactor is expected to start operations in 2028. RIAR will be the legal owner of the multipurpose sodium-cooled fast neutron research reactor, or MBIR by its Russian acronym, which is being built to replace BOR-60. The aggregated annual irradiation capability of MBIR will exceed that of BOR-60 four times over. Among MBIR's other advanced features are its three outside loop channels, while BOR-60 has none. That will enable parallel testing of heavy metal, sodium and gas coolants. MBIR will use vibropacked mixed-oxide (VMOX) fuel, a Russian variant for MOX fuel production, in which blended (U, Pu) O2 and UO2 powders are loaded and compressed directly into the cladding tube. The VMOX for MBIR will have a plutonium content of 38%.

KAERI is currently developing a prototype SFR with the future timeline for a design approval by 2020 and completing its construction by 2028 and that securing design reliability and verification data including fuel irradiation data is necessary to obtain design approval from a licensing authority. To this end, KAERI has started an active cooperation program with RIAR for clad material irradiation test since last December. RIAR has a large capability and experiences to provide irradiation services and post-irradiation examinations of material and nuclear fuels with several research reactors including BOR-60, and RIAR is also planning to build another test reactor for the future.