RU Rosatom completes the first-ever program for operation of nuclear fuel with minor actinides - For the first time in history, humanity has successfully experimented in burning away hazardous nuclear waste with a half-lifetime of over 2,000,000+ years into electricity

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Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, Zarechny (near Yekaterinburg), Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia Hosts the BN-600 (right) and the BN-800 reactors (center), the only two commercially operational breeder reactors in the world as of 2026. A breeder reactor uses fissile material (nuclear fuel), in this case, weapons-grade plutonium (P-239), to generate even more P-239.​	Worker checking fuel assemblies for the BN-800 reactor. Three fuel assemblies had only minor actinides (hazardous nuclear waste such as neptunium-237, which has a half-life of over two millions years), the rest of the fuel assemblies use mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which basically consists of the fissile material P-239 with non-hazardous uranium nuclear waste.​	The BN-800 reactor (which burns the minor actinides). The products of burning the minor actinides are fission products (hazardous waste that is now only 30-100 years old), plutonium P-238 (not weapons-grade, but a good power generator for satellites), electricity, and neutrons. Studies are being prepared on how much the actinides are burned away that determines how effective the system is to be used industry-wide.​

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22 April 2026 | Link (Rosatom article in English, archives don't work) | Link (TVEL article, in Russian) | Archive (TVEL article archived through GhostArchive)

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Unit 4 of Rosatom’s Beloyarsk NPP has successfully completed the world’s first program of pilot operation in a commercial reactor of uranium-plutonium MOX fuel with the addition of so-called minor actinides – the most radiotoxic and long-lived components from spent nuclear fuel.

Three trial fuel assemblies containing americium-241 and neptunium-237 were loaded into the BN-800 fast neutron reactor core in the summer of 2024. Since that time, they have successfully undergone a full cycle of operation across three fuel micro-campaigns. After cooling in the spent fuel pool, the irradiated assemblies will be dispatched for post-irradiation studies.

The utilization of minor actinides through "burning" in power reactors is a key element in the development of fourth-generation nuclear power industry. These elements - neptunium, americium, and curium - make-up a small share of spent fuel mass, but contribute heavily more to its radioactive toxicity and residual heat release. Isotopes of minor actinides are extremely long-lived (half-lives reaching hundreds of thousands of years), and it is their presence that determines the duration and conditions for radwaste isolation from the environment.

As part of closing nuclear fuel cycle, Rosatom has already gained experience in re-involving regenerated uranium and the major actinide - plutonium - back into the nuclear fuel cycle. However, it is precisely the extraction from SNF and subsequent utilization of "minors" that can resolve the principal environmental challenges associated with radioactive waste management. According to scientists, eliminating minor actinides could achieve radiation equivalence between the original uranium feedstock and the nuclear waste destined for isolation hundreds of times faster. In the long term, this will significantly reduce both the volume and range of radioactive waste requiring deep geological disposal.

The most efficient method for minor actinide utilization is "burning" in a nuclear reactor. The technologies which are currently under developed in Russia, would enable burning of minors in several ways. In particular, fast neutron reactors are suitable for this purpose as they provide transmutation of minor actinides into more stable or short-lived isotopes. Russia has advanced expertise in such installations: over 40 years of operation with the BN-600 at Beloyarsk NPP, as well as the world’s most powerful fast reactor, BN-800, which has been in commercial operation since 2016. Furthermore, at Beloyarsk NPP, construction is planned for the first serial high-capacity fast reactor, BN-1200M.

"Burning minor actinides in a commercial reactor is not a one-off experiment, but a long-term strategy. Before scaling this solution to an industrial level, we are demonstrating the very technological feasibility, that this idea actually works. At the next stage, we intend to increase the content of minor actinides in trial oxide MOX fuel assemblies. In addition, we plan to add minor actinides to nitride uranium-plutonium fuel for fast reactors, and also to test heterogeneous burning of 'minors.' In this case, minor actinides are not 'blended' into uranium-plutonium fuel matrix, but are placed in separate fuel rods or assemblies, which will be installed in specific zones of the reactor," commented Alexander Ugryumov, Senior Vice President for Research and Development at TVEL (the managing company of Rosatom's Fuel Division).

"We expect that the quantity of minor actinides included in the fuel matrix will be substantially reduced, but this will be confirmed by further post-irradiation studies. These results would confirm the concept of minor actinides burning technology and define its role and significance within the balanced fuel cycle. It is anticipated to reduce the amount of radioactive waste for final isolation multiple times. The fourth-generation power units will contribute to enhancing the environmental safety and energy potential of nuclear power by allowing the use of spent fuel instead of its storage. Over approximately 60 years of operation, such installations will be capable of utilizing about four tons of minor actinides, which is more than several thermal reactors can produce," noted Yuri Nosov, Director of Beloyarsk NPP.

The qualification program for MOX fuel with minor actinides is being conducted in strict coordination with the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor), which has confirmed the safety of operating these innovative assemblies.

Reference​

• Minor actinides are a group of transuranic elements formed in nuclear fuel during reactor operation, excluding plutonium. The principal minor actinides include neptunium, americium, and curium. These elements do not occur naturally and are produced solely as a result of nuclear reactions. Minor actinides are characterized by high radioactivity and toxicity, as well as the presence of isotopes with long half-lives, which makes them hazardous components of radioactive waste.
• Generation IV Energy Systems refer to a new generation of nuclear energy systems that incorporate a range of technologies unified by a common outcome: significantly higher fuel utilization efficiency, enhanced safety, improved energy efficiency, and a reduction in the volume of spent nuclear fuel, among other benefits (according to the classification adopted by the IAEA). The deployment of such systems is capable of fundamentally transforming the nuclear power industry, primarily through a new level of safety, an expanded fuel nomenclature, and a substantial reduction in radioactive waste. Russia is one of the global leaders in the development of Generation IV technologies: pre-design work has commenced at the Beloyarsk NPP for the construction of the BN-1200M power unit, and in the Tomsk region, for the first time in world practice, a nuclear power plant with the BREST-OD-300 reactor and an on-site closed nuclear fuel cycle are being created on a single site.
• Fast Neutron Reactors are a type of nuclear reactor in which the coolant is not water but liquid metal. The key advantage of such reactors is their ability to efficiently utilize secondary products of the fuel cycle (in particular, plutonium) for energy production. Moreover, due to their high breeding ratio, fast reactors can generate more potential fuel than they consume, as well as "burn up" (i.e., utilize for energy generation) highly active transuranic elements (actinides). For comparison, in thermal neutron reactors, which form the basis of modern nuclear power, only about 1 % of uranium is utilized, while the remaining 99 % is sent for interim storage or disposed of as radioactive waste.

 

[Wodanaz]

thank god this happened in russia instead of the west, where solar and wind jews would have buried it forever to prop uup their shitty scams

 

[Vibralldo]

This. I don't have to love Putin or Russia to see the better potential for an alliance than Israel and Saudi Arabia, who give us absolutely nothing. We claim Putin is terrible yet MBS, who authorized the dismemberment of that Kashogi in Turkey, is loved? There is something deeper here than Putin.

We should be able to put our differences aside to collaborate for the benefit of all mankind

Our leaders would never, but they should

 

[Spooky Space Kook]

Solar and wind fags btfo. When you got mountains and rivers build hydro, and when you don't build a nuclear reactor. Solar is only good for off grid stuff and wind is just a retarded scam. Wind fags now want to harvest energy from waves and tides in the ocean as if one of the most brutal environments on the planet is somehow kind to complex machinery and electronics. The "renewable" energy people are the most retarded people ever because the things actually harvesting/collecting etc the power are made of finite resources that degrade over time. Solar panels lose efficiency faster the more sun the are exposed to.

 

[Nutty_Professor_Enjoyer]

I didn't know Russians do more than just drinking and fighting bears

 

[ShitLurker]

So, theoretically, this could solve the energy crisis AND get rid of nuclear waste?

Hot damn, that's fucking awesome.

Sorry, can't, nuclear energy is scary because Chernobyl and Simpsons, have more windmills.

 

[Romeo]

Maybe in the 2070s we'll finally have one reactor we can use to start cleaning out our own repositories.

Here is something extremely sad and MATI regarding how inept the U.S. federal government handles anything relating to nuclear.

The United States had an agreement with Russia called the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) signed in 2001, which is intended for nuclear disarmament of surplus nuclear weapon stockpiles consisting of mainly weapons-grade plutonium-239. Both nations' governments agreed to combine 34 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium-239 with depleted uranium (uranium-238 ) to manufacture mixed oxide fuel (MOX) for nuclear power generation.

The facility to manufacture MOX would be built in the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, which was previously used to manufacture plutonium-239 weaponry during the Cold War. SRS is going through an environmental clean-up, and a MOX facility would not only help clean up the site greatly but also propel nuclear research and assist the local and state economy heavily. In an ideal world, we can ship that MOX fuel to Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia so we don't have to deal with the nuclear pollution caused by plutonium-239 since American NPPs are reluctant to use experimental MOX fuel.

This is where the shitshow started.

In 2007, the United States started construction of the MOX production facility, with an expected cost of US$4.86 billion. Over almost a decade later, that cost ballooned to fucking US$21.3 billion. The Obama administration kept finding ways to can the project and started cutting costs to the project. Russia meanwhile was able to complete its processing facility and commenced processing of plutonium into MOX fuel in 2015 for use at the BN-800 reactor at a cost of about US$200 million.

Soon, Obama unveiled his 2017 budget plan, in which he terminates the MOX facility and to instead "dilute and dispose" the plutonium-239 in the repository WIPP in New Mexico. Putin saw the action as a betrayal because plutonium in theory can be recovered from its "diluted" form to become weapons-grade plutonium-239 again and suspended the PMDA agreement in 2016 because the United States did not meet its obligations.

Finally, the MOX facility, whose construction was 70% complete yet its construction halted by Obama, was killed off by the Trump administration. In 2018, Energy Secretary Rick Perry stated to Congress that he ended the project stating that it would balloon to US$49 billion and that it would cheaper to "dilute and dispose" the plutonium-239 for US$20 billion. In 2019, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) terminated the facility license.

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The MOX facility in South Carolina, never finished​

South Carolina was fucking livid. During construction, the federal government was dumping radioactive plutonium-239 weapons in the state to then be hopefully used by the MOX facility. However, with the shutdown of the facility's construction, the state sued the federal government and the feds settled for US$600 million and agreed to clean up all the dumped plutonium-239 weaponry on the SRS, which can take up to 2037.

And you know what is the funniest part out of all of this? The facility that was going to be the MOX factory will now be used to produce plutonium pits for nuclear weapons and is scheduled to be operational on 2032 when there should be plutonium clean-up on the SRS. What faggotry.

 

[Ordovický]

Russians are very trustworthy people. Me, John Smith from Ohio oblast, is bowing before might of russian nuclear industry.

 

[Lian Xing]

The facility to manufacture MOX would be built in the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina,

The MOX lead assembly data was not very good. It was a surmountable problem, but it never made economic sense.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Slightly disappointing this didn't take place in that one city whose flag is a bear splitting an atom.

Ver archivo adjunto 8908943

that's actually a photo from one of the early attempts at Mayak

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

that's actually a photo from some of the early work done at Mayak

 

[not william stenchever]

Russia's leadership in the nuclear industry in contrast to the fall of nuclear industries in the West led to schizoid Europeans having conspiracy theories that Russia was behind the green movement so that these countries lose the lead in the nuclear power industry.

You're right, it wasn't just Russia. They had help from the perfidious French.

 

[0gh]

Reprocessing with multiple waste streams is a decent solution that minimizes the total amount of mass that needs to be in geologic disposal.

The US Navy is the largest operator of floating nuclear power plants.

Don't they also have nuclear powered submarines? Nuclear power is really cool

I hate activists trying to shut it down. If nuclear waste is such a problem then let it become a big enough problem for people to solve. We went from learning that washing your hands is good to splitting the atom in what not even a hundred years, of course we'll figure out a way to deal with waste

 

[Lach]

The biggest annoyance of nuclear energy in the west is the over-regulation and red-tape, the amount of pure capital you have to bring into just to start it up because of bullshit, it's literally corrupt guzzling of cash from the private sector so bureaucrat niggers can justify their existence by creating more paperwork that has nothing to do with any actual safety concerns like geological surveys for the ideal site or basic safety that simply exists because it capitalizes on the ignorance and hysteria of a nuclear meltdown happening from the general populace who won't look further into the can of worms that is the institutional rot of our country.

Spoiler: Funny TMI

When the 2 billion dollar lottery was happening I was hyped because I wanted to start up a nuclear plant if I won and larp as Mr.Burns(0.000001% of happening) and i looked into the start up costs of nuclear power plants and the genuine mind rot of the bullshit regulation grift of what's siphoned off of you that has nothing to do with actual safety or construction costs(its in the several billions) so even If I won 2 billion dollars I still wouldn't be able to start up a nuclear power plant

 

[moocow]

But could still be used for weapons, and the reactor becomes a potential source of weapons grade material that now has to be scrupulously tracked and stored to ensure rogue elements don't get their hands on it.

Literally all outputs of all nuclear power plants (including spent fuel) are tracked already. Have you ever even been inside a modern nuclear power station? They track everything. They keep records of literally everything that enters or exits the containment building, including the physical pieces of papers comprising the records of what comes and goes. If you want to know where a piece of potentially-irradiated paper from the label on a spent fuel rod removed eight years ago from the local NPP wound up after it was removed, you can make a public records request to find out.

This changes nothing except the number that goes in one of the fields (indicating material type) in each row in the database.

Spoons can be used as weapons so I guess we'd better fucking ban those and track existing ones too.

God I hate anti-nuclear fetishists so much. "It's possible to do something bad with this so WE CAN NEVER EVER TOUCH IT FOR ANY PURPOSE NO MATTER HOW BENEFICIAL, EVER, NO MATTER WHAT, FOR ANY REASON, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH SPOOKY RADIATION!"

 

[Sister Miriam Godwinson]

There is also the fact that nobody sane will commit to investments with returns over ~30 years that can essentially be turned into a total write-off because some environutter makes it illegal by edict two election cycles from now

Funny you should say that. Putin is in his 27th presidential year right now.

 

[Fred Herbert]

God I hate anti-nuclear fetishists so much. "It's possible to do something bad with this so WE CAN NEVER EVER TOUCH IT FOR ANY PURPOSE NO MATTER HOW BENEFICIAL, EVER, NO MATTER WHAT, FOR ANY REASON, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH SPOOKY RADIATION!"

Well obviously. Feelings matter more than progress. It's a good thing the species has literally been set back 50 years thanks to actual malevolent lies and creationist-tier scientific illiteracy.

Nuclear sounds scary and makes randoms feel bad, therefore it is bad. To hell with any supposed benefits.

We ought to go back to water wheels just to be safe I reckon.

 

[moocow]

We ought to go back to water wheels just to be safe I reckon.

Are you kidding? KIDS GET RUN OVER BY CARTS ON WHEELS ALL THE TIME you fucking heartless monster!

 

[not william stenchever]

We ought to go back to water wheels just to be safe I reckon.

We can tie the anti nuclear nuts to the water wheels and make a nice little social occasion out of it.

 

[Lian Xing]

If nuclear waste is such a problem then let it become a big enough problem for people to solve.

There is no action in Congress to accept the fuel because dry cask storage works too well. That's right, our temporary solution is so good, there is no impetus for the Federal government to accept the waste per the Nuclear Waste Policy Act as amended.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

weapons grade material that now has to be scrupulously tracked and stored to ensure Hillary Clinton doesn't sell it to Iran. Again.

Fixed that for you.