Moscow : The world’s most powerful multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR), essential for developing the nuclear energy of the future is under construction in Russia, is running ahead of schedule, as Konstantin Vergazov, CEO of Consortium Leader of MBIR Reactor International Research Centre, a Rosatom company, announced to reporters.

“The reactor construction is running ahead of schedule as determined by the Government. Despite all the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, all the main tasks set for this year for the entities engaged in the construction have been completed in advance. One of the key results was installing a floor slab in the base of the reactor well,” Vergazov told reporters on the margins of the Congress of Young Scientists in Sochi. At the Congress, round-table discussions dedicated to the progress of the MBIR project were held.

He emphasized that all works at the MBIR construction site are performed in strict compliance with requirements due to epidemiological situation.

K. Vergazov: “Rosatom provided us with both new tools to implement the project and the required support. A professional team of builders is engaged. There are new consortium models which enable cooperation with different companies to perform construction works and to manufacture the required equipment — ahead of schedule.”

The MBIR reactor with a thermal capacity of 150 MW is under construction on the site of Rosatom’s Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. The reactor commissioning is scheduled for the second half of the 2020s.

It is expected that MBIR will provide the nuclear industry with a modern and technologically advanced research infrastructure for half a century ahead. The unique technical characteristics of MBIR will allow solving a wide range of research problems to justify the creation of new competitive and safe nuclear power plants, including fast neutron reactors, nuclear fuel cycle closure. Therewith, as compared to those existing and operating plants, the time consumption for research at the new reactor will decrease several-fold.

It is planned to create an international research center powered by MBIR — as the platform for foreign stakeholders to carry out their experiments. Therefore, Russia will vindicate its leadership on the global nuclear science agenda by the end of this century.