Russian deputy minister of atomic energy Yevgeny Reshetnikov announced that the Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) will allocate R620 million ($20 million) in 2002 to build unit 4 - a BN-800 reactor - at Beloyarsk, in the Sverdlovsk region.
Reshetnikov made the announcement during a meeting at the Beloyarsk plant. "The fourth power unit of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant is among the strategic projects for the Russian nuclear power system. The domestic nuclear power industry has no future without units operating with fast neutrons. The fourth power unit should be put into operation in 2009, as is planned," he said.
About $1.2 billion will be spent on the construction of the unit within the next 8-9 years.
The BN-800 is designed to burn both energy- and weapons-grade plutonium as MOX fuel.
