Russia’s Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Region) has completed the unloading of core of its SM reactor as part of a modernisation process and has transported the core to long-term storage, the Institute’s press service reported on 17 October. “The work was carried out by specialists from the reactor research complex, the transport department and the KORO service with careful monitoring by the employees of the radiation safety and environmental protection departments,” said Alexander Tuzov, director of the institute. A new core is to be installed in the reactor vessel by the end of the year, and by March 2020, the reactor should be ready for experiments to determine the neutron-physical characteristics of the new core.
The high-flux research SM reactor has been in operation since 1961 and is used for irradiation testing of reactor materials under target conditions and to produce transplutonium elements and radionuclides of high specific activity. The reactor has been modernised several times most recently in 1992. First criticality of the modernised SM-3 reactor was achieved in December 1992 and in April 1993 it began operation. After almost 25 years further modernisation is now required to adapt the reactor to new challenges and objectives and this is expected to continue until 2020.
The core load bearing and support structures need to be replaced. It will be necessary to perform design engineering of a new neutron trap to increase irradiation capabilities. New reactor control elements and actuating mechanisms need to be designed and manufactured. Beryllium blocks of the reflector are also to be replaced. This modernisation will make it possible to increase a number of irradiation positions in the neutron trap where neutron flux is higher than 2?1015 cm-2·s-1 from 27 to 57. Changes to the fuel mean the annual consumption of highly enriched uranium will decrease to 22% %. The work will help to extend the reactor operational lifetime at least until 2030.
