AEM-technology JSC started fabrication of vessel for multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR)

The AEM-technology Company (a part of Atomenergomash JSC, the mechanical engineering division of Rosatom) started to fabricate a vessel for the Multi-Purpose Fast Neutron Research Reactor (the MBIR). The MBIR is being deployed on a SSC RIAR JSC site in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Oblast.

Machining of the first large workpiece of the MBIR, a conical adapter for the reactor vessel bottom, is taking place at the production facility of Atommash. Simultaneously with the turning and boring operations, the first welding on an upper shell ring is being performed. The finished 83-ton reactor vessel will be 12 meters long and 4 meters in diameter. Fourteen more workpieces with a total weight of 360 tons are planned for production at the Volgodonsk Branch, including vessel components and support structures. ‘The MBIR Reactor will show off the engineering level of our enterprise’, Vitaly Shishov, the Production Director of the Volgodonsk Branch, said. ‘A brand new design was developed for this product, which poses a few manufacturing challenges as far as the equipment quality and process management are concerned. As early as the preproduction stage, the Atommash experts identified engineering complexities that might arise and devised solutions for them (e. g., a way to keep minimal space between the reactor vessel and the guard vessel bottoms)’. The AEM-technology Company is the main MBIR equipment supplier. Some pieces are fabricated at the Petrozavodskmash Branch.

The Multi-purpose Fast Neutron Research Reactor (the MBIR) will be the most powerful operating research reactor in the world. The new sodium-cooled reactor will have a thermal capacity of 150 MW. The MBIR’s unique tech specs will allow to solve quite a few research problems in order to create new, competitive and safe nuclear energy facilities, including fast reactors. Therewith, the research periods at MBIR will be shorter compared to the operating reactors.