The BOR-60 reactor was constructed to perform tests for the commercial BN-350, BN-600 and BN-800 reactors, which also use fast neutron breeding.[4] Construction began in 1964, and it reached first criticality in 1968.[4] It was commissioned the following year, in 1969.[1]
Originally it used highly enriched uranium, but in 1981 it switched over to burning MOX fuel containing weapons-grade plutonium from decommissioned nuclear warheads.[5]
BOR-60 was intended to be decommissioned in 2010,[5] but was prolonged until 2025, after which the MBIR will replace it.[2]
In 2025 a new technology is being developed for processing of radioactive liquid sodium for proper decommissioning of fast neutron reactors such as BOR-60 and BN-350 (in future it can be used when BN-600 and BN-800 reach the end of life).[6]
Diagram of the reactor core of the BOR-60 experimental fast-neutron reactor. (Note that the fuel and blanket assemblies can be easily interchanged) Grey: fuel assemblies White: blank assemblies Blue: experimental material assemblies Green: experimental fuel assemblies Red: control rods Yellow: experimentation channels
The core is made up of a hexagonal grid containing 265 separate elements, with fuel channels, control rods, various experimental assemblies and a outer section of solid blanket assemblies (blanks).[8] The reactor vessel also has several experimentation channels in the outer hull, with widths varying from 90mm to 230mm.[9]
Coolant
The reactor is a sodium-cooled fast reactor, which uses liquid sodium as the coolant.[4] It uses two separate sodium loops, and these are connected to a main water-cooled loop which feeds the steam generators and turbines for producing electricity.[8] The sodium coolant is pressurized to 5.5 MPa, and is heated to over 500 °C in the reactor.[7]
Capabilities
BOR-60 allows for wide-scale tests of fuels, materials, coolants and detectors for various fast reactors.[10] It is capable or burning a wide range of fuels, including weapons-grade material, as well as various metallic, oxide, nitride and carbide variations.[5] Thus it has been used to test fuels and reactor physics for a wide array of reactors, such as the BN-350, BN-600 and BN-800, as well as the MBIR and proposed BREST-300lead-cooled reactors.[4][11]
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