Owners
Smolensk NPP is the city-forming enterprise of the Smolensk region, the largest in the fuel and energy balance of the region. Each year, the station produces an average of 20 billion kVt˙ch, which is more than 80% of the total electricity generated in the region. Three power units with RBMK-1000 reactors are operated at Smolensk NPP.
History
2023: Sending the first batch of cobalt-60
Smolensk NPP in February 2023 sent to the Leningrad NPP the first in its history batch of cobalt-60 from 4 containers - two additional cobalt absorbers with cobalt-60 capsules from 80 available. This is a key event in achieving ROSATOM's strategic goal of creating new products for the Russian and international markets.
Cobalt-60 is used in the production of gamma radiation sources, widely used in medicine, industry and agriculture. The most widely Co-60 Concern Rosenergoatom is used in the production of ionizing radiation sources Co-60 for irradiation plants that sterilize medical products, food and other products. One such shipment of the So-60 from the SEPP will allow sterilizing at least 30,000 m3 of medical products.
"Cobalt-60 does not exist in nature, it is a product of science-intensive technology. Its work is included in the large-scale project of the Rosenergoatom Concern, which is part of the isotope business strategy of Rosatom State Corporation and the industry program "Development of Nuclear Medicine and Technologies," operated by Rusatom Healthcare JSC. Rosenergoatom is one of the main producers of cobalt-60 in the world. RBMK reactors operated at the Smolensk NPP have a competitive advantage over other types of power reactors in terms of isotope production. Without changing the design technological cycle of electricity generation, our reactor plants can be guaranteed to irradiate materials and provide stable supplies of a valuable isotope, "said Pavel Lubensky, director of the Smolensk NPP.
The Smolensk NPP began to practically master a new type of activity for itself in 2017. The rods of additional cobalt absorbers (SDPK) manufactured by JSC Machine-Building Plant (part of the Fuel Company TVEL of Rosatom State Corporation) were gradually loaded into the reactor installations of three power units.
Each additional scavenger is 144 capsules of nickel-plated natural cobalt-59. In total, in 2017-2019, 80 SDPKs were loaded into the reactors of the Smolensk NPP. The first unloaded batch is 2 SDPK, 4 containers. Permission of Rostekhnadzor was obtained to increase the load into the reactor of power unit No. 3. The planned "maturation" period is the transformation of the starting material into the cobalt-60 isotope - about 5 years.
"Since 2017, a huge amount of work has been done to prepare for the extraction of irradiated cobalt-60. A set of domestic equipment for handling irradiated rods was designed, manufactured, installed and tested. In early 2023, we began to extract irradiated products that have accumulated the required level of activity. The entire volume of additional absorbers loaded into the EPSS power units in 2017-2019 will be extracted within 2.5-3 years and phased loading of new ones will be carried out, "said Anatoly Karpinsky, Deputy Chief Engineer for Safety and Reliability of EPSS.
Now the rods of additional absorbers are being removed from the reactors of power units No. 1 and 2. In the reactor holding pools under the protective water layer, they are disassembled into separate links, then placed in transport and packaging containers. In specialized transport, in compliance with all safety requirements for handling radioactive materials, they were sent to the Leningrad NPP for the preparation of product batches for shipment to the customer.
The volumes of cobalt-60 planned for production at the Smolensk NPP are contracted for the entire period of power unit operation. In addition to the production of cobalt-60, the Smolensk NPP is preparing to create new products - the production of medical isotopes of iodine-131, molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177 to provide Russian manufacturers of radiopharmaceuticals.
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