Development of production reactors was caused by the need of the nuclear weapon program for special nuclear materials. In 1947 OKBM received a task to develop individual systems of the first production uranium-graphite reactor (PUGR) "A" (reactor Chief Designer was N.A.Dollezhal). Reactor "A" was constructed and commissioned in 1948 with active participation of OKBM.

Since 1948 OKBM developed a number of advanced PUGR and production heavy-water reactors (HWR). In the 1950s 4 PUGRs were constructed as per OKBM design in Production Association Mayak and at Zheleznogorsk Mining Chemical Combine (MCC) and 2 HWR in Production Association Mayak. At the same time period 3 research HWRs were designed and constructed: in ITEF (Moscow), Yugoslavia and China. The latter is still in operation.

In the 1960-s OKBM developed the designs of new generation PUGRs, which along with weapons-grade Pu production ensured generation of electrical power and heat for industrial and civil objects. Those were one of the first co-generation plants in the world. The total of 5 reactors of this type were constructed: three of them exceeded their specified design lifetime by almost 2 times and are still operating, providing heat and electric power supply to Seversk, Tomsk and Zheleznogorsk. Heavy-water reactor technology was developed further, which was marked by commissioning of HWR L-2 advanced reactor in 1988. Lately this reactor has bben used to solve the task of arranging large-scale production of radioactive isotopes for industrial, medical and scientific purpose (Co-60, Iridium-192, Carbon-14, Phosphorus-32 Tulium-170, Selenium-75, etc.) both for domestic and world markets.

In the second half of the 1990-s OKBM together with other Russian Minatom enterprises implemented the Core Conversion Project under the Agreement between the Governments of Russia and the USA to terminate WGPu production at the operating PUGRs. At the same time the activities to enhance safety and validate the residual lifetime of these reactors are underway.

Presently shutdown PUGRs are being decommissioned and new generation HWR are being developed.

The OKBM half-century experience in the field of production reactor technologies is widely used to create various reactor plants for nuclear power engineering.

Russia is the only country in the world, which has a civil nuclear fleet. The ice-breakers with nuclear power plants operate successfully in the Arctic region for over 40 years, providing reliable and safe piloting of transport ships along the entire Northern Seaway.

The first civil ship reactor plant design - "Lenin" nuclear ice-breaker - was developed in OKBM in 1955. And since 1960 this ice-breaker started arctic navigation, which lasted till 1989 and resulted in piloting of 3700 ships that validated high efficiency of nuclear power application in ice-breakers.

Successful operation of the first nuclear ice-breaker initiated the development of the whole nuclear shipbuilding industry. In 1975-1992 seven more ice-breakers (Arktika, Sibir, Rossia, Sovetsky Soyuz, Taimyr, Vaigach, Yamal) and Sevmorput ocean lighter-container ship of enhanced ice-breaking grade were built in Russia. OKBM developed 3 generations of advanced nuclear steam supply systems (NSSS) for them, the last being KLT-40 fully meets current international safety requirements.

OKBM experts participated in creation, commissioning and operation of the entire complex of systems and equipment for these NSSS.

The Russian nuclear ice-breaker fleet keeps developing. Construction of new 50 Let Pobedy linear nuclear ice-breaker is being completed at Baltiysky plant in Saint Petersburg. OKBM is designing new generation reactors for future nuclear ice-breakers.

OKBM is developing the designs of advanced small-power NPPs using unique expertise in creating high-reliable nuclear ship-based power plants.

OKBM developed a number of reactor plant designs for small power sources ranging from 1 to 200 MW(e), i.e. SAKHA-92, ABV, KLT-40C, ATETs-80, and ATETs-200, on the basis of the broad experience in the field of ship-based reactors creation and upgrading. All of the reactors are intended for reliable power and heat supply to isolated consumers in remote areas without centralized power supply where expensive imported fuel is used. In Russia these are large inhabited localities and ports along the Northern Seaway and the Far East Coast; while abroad these are coastal areas of developing countries. The expediency of these plants application for seawater desalination in areas with sweet water deficit was validated.

The designs of small power sources (ABV and KLT-40C), prepared for implementation, provide for arrangement of the nuclear power plant on a dumb barge. This floating power unit (FPU) can be created at a shipbuilding plant using a proven construction technology for nuclear ice-breakers and Navy ships. After integrated tests and acceptance by the Customer on the "turn key" basis, the FPU is transported to mooring where it is connected to coastal grids and starts operating. The FPU design minimizes the scope and cost of capital construction in the NPP location area. It also helps simplify the problems of radwaste storage, efficient maintenance of the plant and its decommissioning when the assigned lifetime has expired.

A floating co-generation plant design was developed for Pevek in Chukotka. The prototype FPU is under construction at JSC “Baltiysky Zavod” (Saint-Petersburg city).

A number of Conceptual Designs of single-purpose floating desalinating plants and power-desalinating complexes intended to generate heat, power and sweet water was developed on the basis of ABV and KLT-40 type reactor plants.

Presently OKBM is developing the design of VBER-300 modular reactor plant for medium power ground and floating NPP units on the basis of nuclear shipbuilding technologies.

Fast neutron reactors play a top-priority role in large-scale nuclear power engineering of tomorrow. They allow boosting the natural uranium application efficiency by almost 100 times, thus, making the nuclear power engineering free of natural nuclear fuel-related restrictions.

In 1960 OKBM started the activities in the field of fast neutron reactor development by designing BN-350 first experimental-production reactor that was commissioned in 1973 and was in operation until 1998 as a part of Mangyshlak Power Combine and seawater desalination plant. In 1980 another, yet more powerful BN-600 reactor was put into operation at Beloyarsk NPP, which is still operating successfully, being the largest operating reactor of this type in the world.

In 1983 OKBM developed the design of BN-800 advanced reactor for 800 MW(e) power module on the basis of BN-600. In 1984 construction of two BN-800 reactors at Beloyarsk and South-Ural NPPs was started. The subsequent delay in construction of these reactors was used to upgrade the design to further enhance its safety and improve technical and economic indices. Construction of BN-800 prototype reactor was resumed in 2001 at Beloyarsk NPP (the 4th power module) and is be completed by 2010.

BN-800 can make use of various fuels (oxide, nitride fuel, etc.), effectively dispose weapon-grade and power-grade Pu, burn up transactinides and long life fission products, and ensure Pu non-proliferation due to elimination of its release when reprocessing the fuel. So, BN-800 design ensures meeting the main requirements for future nuclear power engineering, stated by the RF President V.V.Putin at the UN Millenium Summit in September 2000. The requirements are to enhance safety and improve technical and economic indices of fast neutron reactors. OKBM is currently developing an advanced design of large power BN reactor to further enhance the aforesaid parameters.

OKBM actively participates in international cooperative activities relative to fast neutron reactors. OKBM is the General Contractor for development and manufacture of the main equipment for CEFR Chinese experimental fast reactor.

HTGRs are heat sources with extremely high temperature of ~ 1000°C, thus their use allows significant broadening of efficient economic nuclear power application.

In 1970-1980s OKBM developed a number of various purpose and electric power HTGR designs: VG-400 pilot production reactor for process heat and power co-generation in a steam-turbine cycle, VG-400GT reactor plant with direct gas-turbine cycle of power conversion, VGM modular reactor for ~ 900°C process heat and electric power generation, VGM-P nuclear power plant for power supply of a standard oil refinery.

At this period OKBM created research and experimental facilities and a large scope of R&D to validate HTGR designs being developed

International GT-MHR Project

By the beginning of 1990s the achievements relative to gas turbine, electromagnetic bearing, high-effective heat exchange equipment technologies allowed developing an Innovative Project of helium HTGR with gas turbomachine for direct power conversion with ~50% efficiency (Brayton cycle). This concept is the basis of the International GT-MHR Project (Gas-Turbine Modular Helium Reactor). The main project participants are a group of Russian enterprises (OKBM, RRC KI, VNIINM and Others), an American group headed by General Atomics, French Framatome and Japanese Fuji Electric. The Preliminary Design of the reactor plant and GT-MHR prototype NPP was completed in 2001.

"Strategy of Russia Nuclear Power Engineering Development…" provides for construction of GT-MHR prototype NPP and fuel production plant for it at the Siberian Chemical Combine by 2010 and construction and commissioning of the first four-module GT-MHR NPP by 2012-2015.

Technical parameters, safety and economic efficiency of the GT-MHR plants are close to the requirements for promising XXIst century reactor technologies stated by Russian President V.V. Putin at the UN Millenium Summit held in September 2000, and these activities are underway.

OKBM along with JSC MSZ and Bochvar VNIINM have developed an advanced fuel assembly (AFA) for PWR-1000 reactor.

Along with higher fuel utilization efficiency the AFA design provides high geometrical stability at high fuel burnup that meets the requirements of prospective fuel cycles.

AFA has undergone the full cycle of pre-reactor tests. A set of experimental investigations at OKBM thermal-physical test facility was performed using an AFA experimental model that allowed validating thermal-technical reliability of the assembly and its safety under emergency operating conditions. A four-year cycle of AFA reactor tests in pilot-commercial operation mode at Kalininskaya NPP Unit 1 (2002) was completed successfully to validate AFA design parameters.

Considerable AFA advantage in terms of geometrical stability allows implementation of economically efficient fuel cycles making complete use of fuel element potential (~60 MW·days/kgU burnup), i.e. four- and five-year fuel cycles in PWR-1000 with ~300 eff.days fuel life.

Good reactor test results and potential of further FA technology and design upgrade permit to consider AFA as competitive nuclear fuel at the domestic and traditional foreign markets.

NPP Equipment

OKBM has broad experience in development of the following types of nuclear power engineering equipment:

• circulation pumps of various types and purpose, gas circulators;
• heat exchange equipment and high-efficiency steam generators for various coolants (water, sodium, gas);
• leak-tight power valves (control, safety and shut-off valves);
• reactor control and protection mechanisms and systems;
• vessel structures, pressurized vessels;
• mechanisms and devices for reactor refueling, repair and in-service maintenance;
• control and monitoring systems.

OKBM test facilities allow full-scale testing of all types of equipment to be developed, and the production facilities provide fabrication of both pilot samples and standard articles delivered to the Customer on a "turn key" basis.

Equipment created in OKBM has high safety, reliability and lifetime indices and requires minimum operation costs. For instance, main circulation pumps in ice-breaker NPPs have 100 thousand hours of assigned lifetime without dismantling and repair, and their maximum running time exceeds 150 thousand hours.

At present OKBM is the General Supplier of BN-800 reactor plant equipment sets and ventilation equipment for VVER-1000 reactors at Beloyarsk NPP.

OKBM is also engaged in updating the pumps for NPP safety systems, repair of pump equipment and delivery of spare parts for operating NPP equipment.

OKBM quality system based on industry traditions, international standards ISO 9001 and International Atomic Energy Agency requirements ensures high quality of equipment.

Equipment for Non-Nuclear Industries

The following products and services, which are of high demand at the non-nuclear market (oil refining and gas processing, chemical industry, power engineering, etc.) have been determined on the basis of enterprise experience at the nuclear market:

• Equipment fabrication and supply (pumps, valves, heat exchangers).
• Technical diagnostics and equipment residual life evaluation.
• Energy saving.
• Certification tests.

Licenses of regulatory authorities were obtained for the activities on the adopted trends. Traditional OKBM products were adopted to the requirements of oil-refinement and chemical industries and enterprises engaged in transportation of oil products. For this purpose OKBM developed a parametric range of leak-tight pumps to transfer various inflammable chemical fluids (carbohydrates, liquefied gas, petroleum, phenol, oils, etc.). The proposed pumps do not considerably differ from reactor plant pumps in terms of their design and fabrication technology. This ensures their exceptionally high operation indices: assigned lifetime without dismantling and repair amounts to 40 thousand hours, service life is 20 years.

The price of pump delivery is15-20% less than that of similar power and technical level. Warranty service and in-service maintenance is proposed.