The work performed on the creation of the BREST innovative reactor technology based on a lead-cooled fast reactor, mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel, operating in a closed nuclear fuel cycle is reviewed. It is shown that a safe and competitive large-scale nuclear energy with practically unlimited fuel resources can be developed based on the BREST reactor technology. The choice of mixed nitride fuel for the BREST reactor as compared with other types of nuclear fuel (oxide, metal, and carbide) is substantiated. The main technical solutions implemented in the BREST-OD-300 project are considered. The results of tests of nitride fuel, computational and experimental substantiation of the core, reactor vessel, operability and safety of the steam generator, development of automated monitoring and control systems, a study of the properties of the coolant and structural materials are presented. The results obtained made it possible to commence designing a commercial high-power BREST-type reactor for large-scale nuclear energy.The birth and development of the BREST concept -an inherently safe, lead-cooled, fast reactor operating on mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel in a closed nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) was initiated by V. V. Orlov. The purpose of the concept was to lend credence to the possibility of developing large-scale nuclear energy based on nuclear power plants with fast reactors in a closed nuclear fuel cycle, which, having assumed the task of providing for the base increase in electricity generation and, being socially acceptable, in compliance with the following requirements could solve the problem of supplying energy for sustainable human development:-lifting restrictions on fuel resources by means of effi cient use of uranium raw materials during multiple recycling of nuclear fuel in a closed NFC;-elimination of severe accidents at NPP with radiation consequences requiring evacuation or resettlement of the population;-technological reinforcement of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation regime; -closure of the nuclear fuel cycle with radioactive waste disposal in a radiation-equivalent and cancer-equivalent state in relation to the mined uranium ore; -economic competitiveness with other energy sources. The Russian and foreign experience gained by the end of the 1980s in the origination and elaboration of sodium-cooled fast reactors showed that in terms of capital costs the BN-type reactor installations are 1.5-2 times more expensive than reactor installations with thermal reactors of the same capacity. The high cost of fast reactors, along with the potential danger of sodium burning on contact with water and the atmosphere, at that time seemed to be the main reasons for the curtailment of work on fast reactors, fi rst in the United States, then in Europe (Germany, Great Britain, and France), and later in Russia -refusal to build the series from BN-800 and BN-1600 on sites at the South Urals and Beloyarsk NPPs.Realizing that the high cost of NPP is primarily a safety charge, Orlov initiated a search for a concept of a cost-effective, high-safety, fast reactor. These two confl icting requirements can be harmonized only if safety is increased mainly by

E. O. Adamov

A. V. Kaplienko

V. V. Orlov

V. S. Smirnov

A. V. Lopatkin

V. V. Lemekhov

A. V. Moiseev

Atomic Energy

Brest Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor: From Concept to Technological Implementation

快中子反应堆：从概念到技术实现

Category	Quartile
工程技术	4
工程技术, 核科学技术	4

Brest Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor: From Concept to Technological Implementation

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	4