Russia’s Beloyarsk-4 Fast Neutron Reactor Connected To The Grid

11 Dec (NucNet): Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear station in Sverdlovsk Oblast, central Russia, was connected to the grid on 10 December at 21:21 local time, state nuclear corporation Rosatom said in a statement. Beloyarsk-4 is a 789-megawatt sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor of the BN-800 design, burning mixed uranium-plutonium fuel. The unit is operating at 35 percent of its design capacity generating 235 megawatts of electrical output into the grid, Rosatom said. It is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of 2016 and will be the most powerful fast reactor unit in commercial operation, Rosatom said. There is one commercially operational reactor at the Beloyarsk station, the Beloyarsk-3 BN-600 fast neutron unit, a smaller version of the BN-800. Two other units, both AMB-100 light-water-graphite reactor units commissioned in the 1960s, have been permanently shut down.