BN-800 reactor: Russia has given humanity an almost endless source of energy
Last year, the Russian fast breeder nuclear reactor BN-800 was fully loaded with innovative MOX fuel for the first time. The unit worked in this mode for a year, confirming its efficiency and viability.
It is worth noting that this event is the most important and historical not only for our country, but for the whole world. After all, BN-800 is the first reactor operating on the above-mentioned technology. Consequently, Russia has essentially created the world's first virtually endless source of energy.
Why is this so? It is enough to understand what MOX fuel is.
Let us recall that thermal reactors operate on uranium-235, the content of which in natural uranium reaches less than 1 percent. The rest of the mass is uranium-238, which, after the process of enriching the extracted mineral, was considered waste and was not used in nuclear energy.
So, MOX is a mixture of uranium-238 with plutonium oxide. It is this fuel that the BN-800 operates on. But that's not all.
The fact is that by burning uranium-238, the innovative reactor produces plutonium, which is enough to supply its own operation and, if necessary, other reactors with new fuel. It turns out to be a kind of closed cycle.
Now that the BN-800 has proven its effectiveness, engineers began developing the more powerful BN-1200.
Tellingly, Russian fast neutron reactors are considered among the safest in the world. At the same time, in the future they will be able to solve not only the problem of providing humanity with almost eternal energy, but will also make it possible to recycle accumulated nuclear waste, which threatens the ecology of our planet and requires enormous funds for its storage.
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