Russia's Rosatom Completes Pilot Operational Cycle of Recycled Nuclear Fuel

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian nuclear fuel monopoly TVEL, which is the fuel supplying arm of the state atomic giant Rosatom, said on Monday it had completed a pilot operational cycle of recycled nuclear fuel mix that will potentially reduce fresh fuel consumption in both fast-neutron and thermal-neutron reactors.

The regenerated uranium-plutonium mixture fuel, called Remix, was tested for five years ending in September 2021. Remix fuel rods were loaded into a VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor at Balakovo nuclear plant in December 2021 and examined visually in May after 18 months of industrial operation.

TVEL said that the "innovative" Remix fuel, which is made from a mix of spent uranium and plutonium topped up with low-enriched uranium, would allow Russian nuclear reactors to "potentially transition to a closed nuclear fuel cycle both in fast reactors and in classic, thermal-neutron reactors, including Russia-designed VVERs."