Russia Moves Firmly To Make Fast Breeders a Major Part of Its Nuclear Program

Some of the 26 reactors that Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, plans to build before 2030, will use the Fast Reactor technology, corporation spokesman Sergei Novikov said. According to the corporation's outlook, it will completely phase out the current, third-generation equipment by the start of next century.

On one hand, Rosatom's plan to commercialize the fast breeder reactor stems from the fact, Novikov said, that the world is set to run out of affordable uranium in at least 12 years, given the plans by Russia, China, India, and other countries to build more reactors. "If all the plans ... are implemented — and they are getting to it so far — the market will have a shortage both of uranium and the facilities for its enrichment," he said. Uranium has already shot up in price from at least $7 a pound in 2005, to $60 a pound as of June 30, Novikov said.

But, beyond the depletion of uranium, the fast breeder reactor achieves what industry insiders call a closed fuel cycle, the ability to use byproducts from one nuclear reaction as fuel for another, allowing for a spectacular expansion of fuel reserves. It usually uses mixed oxide fuel made up of about 20 percent plutonium and 80 percent plain, un-enriched uranium that transmutes into more plutonium as it burns.

In addition to a better fuel situation, the fast breeder reactor produces waste that is much safer to store, because half of its radioactivity dissipates over 30 to 40 years. In contrast, waste from current nuclear reactors can take more than 25,000 years to decay.