Converting Russian plutonium‐production reactors to civilian use

Alexander M. Dmitriev
1994 Science and Global Security  
The first Soviet reactor designed to produce weapon-grade began operation in Chelyabinsk in June of 1948. This single-purpose, graphite-moderated, singlepass reactor was a water-cooled reactor. Its cooling water was dumped directly into a lake at roughly 100°C. Several more reactors of this type were subsequently constructed. In 1958, a reactor of a new type began operation in Tomsk-7. A graphitemoderated production reactor was built to operate in dual-purpose mode, producing both weapons-grade
more » ... plutonium and heat and electricity for local residents. The primary reactor circuit was closed, and the reactor plant was equipped with heat exchangers, steam generators and turbines to produce electric power. In 1961In , 1964In and 1965, four additional dual-purpose reactors began operation: three in Tomsk-7, and one in Krasnoyarsk-26. Shortly after being commissioned, the Krasnoyarsk-26 reactor was fitted with a system to transmit its low-grade heat (i.e., heated water that has passed through steam generators) to meet residential heat demands. (Low-grade heat had already been used for some time to industrial plant buildings at the Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26 sites.) Initially, the supply of heat was rather limited, but by 1968 a decision was made to heat the district of the main city of Tomsk with waste heat from the reactor. In 1973, a 17-kilometer heating main was completed. It had four pipelines one meter in diameter, relay pumps, and demineralization equipment. 'IWo direct pipes carried hot water, two others were a. Department Head, Gosatomnadzor (Russian State Committee for Radiation Safety), Moscow. 111
doi:10.1080/08929889408426414 fatcat:ccyvjpgsrjam7fh7y5bmt7sopi