Specialists of the Russian Research Institute of Nuclear Reactors have successfully completed a large-scale repair and modernization of the VK-50 multipurpose research reactor facility in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region.
For the first time in the last 20 years, the installation has supplied 50 MW of electrical power to the network. VK-50 is Russia’s first and only operating hull boiling reactor with natural coolant circulation.
VK-50 provides energy and heat to the residents of the region and the site of the institute, and is also used for conducting a complex of experimental work. After modernization, it will work at least until the start of generation at the MBIR reactor under construction. Since the service life of the buildings has been extended until 2041, it can remain in service longer.
It is reminded that the VK-50 reactor plant was created at the suggestion of the Russian and Soviet physicist, the “father” of the Soviet atomic bomb Igor Kurchatov to study one of the directions of nuclear energy.
Ru-Main, 01.04.2022
Source: Izvestia
