Responsibility center for MNUP fuel research being established on the basis of SChC chemical and metallurgical facility

In accordance with the ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation’s (ROSATOM) decision, planned shutdown of the chemical and metallurgical plant (CMP) at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SChC) will begin early January 2017 with subsequent decommissioning and process-oriented management structure transitioning.
Vyacheslav Glushenkov, Director of the chemical and metallurgical plant at SChC, said that part of the CMP workforce will be employed in operations transferring the facility into a nuclear safe environment. The number of staff engaged will be determined by the scope of the necessary tasks, the implicit safety requirements and the terms specified in the license.

The remaining part of the CMP personnel possessing the necessary skills and expertise that are in demand by the TVEL Fuel Company in such fields as HEU, plutonium, reprocessing materials and HLW management and operations are expected to staff the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) that is being developed at the SChC facility in the fourth quarter 2017.

«The issue of creating a Responsibility center for studying and developing fabrication and reprocessing technologies for mixed nitride uranium-plutonium (MNUP) fuel for the PDEC fabrication/refabrication and reprocessing modules on the basis of the CMP facility is being resolved within the framework of the ‘Proryv’ project, » said Vyacheslav Glushenkov. «Every potential employee will receive individual assessment. There is no doubt that the facility’s highly skilled personnel will be in demand.»

Background info: The CMP facility (Plant «M», site №25) was built for manufacturing specialized products from uranium and plutonium. The first stage of the CMP was commissioned in July 17, 1961. The first reduction smelting operation using batch uranium was performed in July 1, 1961. In March 1963, the CMP personnel produced their first plutonium product.

Source: SChC public affairs office