Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering Completes Manufacture and Delivery of MBIR Fast Reactor Primary Coolant Circulation Pumps

The machine-building division of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (Госкорпорация «Росатом» / Rosatom), Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering (АО «ОКБМ Африкантов» / OKBM Afrikantov), has completed the manufacture and delivery of the primary coolant circulation pumps (Главные циркуляционные насосы, ГЦН) for the multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (МБИР / MBIR). As core equipment of the reactor facility, these circulation pumps will be responsible for driving the coolant to circulate within the reactor core.

Since the MBIR reactor uses liquid sodium (Натрий) as coolant, equipment manufacturing faces extremely high technical requirements for wide-temperature-range operation, resistance to highly corrosive media, and maintenance of absolute sealing integrity. During the development process, the design team drew upon and improved the technical approaches of mature sodium-cooled fast reactor models such as BOR-60 (БОР-60), BN-600 (БН-600), and BN-800 (БН-800), and completed customized engineering adaptation for the specific operating conditions of this research facility.

Sergey Babushkin (Сергей Бабушкин / Sergey Babushkin), Chief Designer of Centrifugal Machinery and Valves at Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering, noted that factory tests fully verified the reliability and safety indicators of the pump units. As a core experimental platform for fourth-generation nuclear energy technology (IV generation nuclear energy), the stable supply of key electromechanical equipment for the MBIR reactor has laid the hardware foundation for the subsequent construction and operation of the experimental platform.

According to the engineering plan, these primary circulation pumps will be installed on site within the year at the "State Scientific Center — Research Institute of Atomic Reactors" (АО «ГНЦ НИИАР» / NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Oblast (Димитровград, Ульяновская область). Alexey Likhachev (Алексей Лихачёв / Alexey Likhachev), Director General of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, previously stated that the reactor will undertake multiple research tasks including material irradiation experiments, testing of new fuels, and testing of new media, building long-term experimental infrastructure for the nuclear industry.

The design and manufacturing experience accumulated in the field of nuclear-grade fluid machinery has also prompted Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering to extend related technologies to the civilian petrochemical and cryogenic engineering fields. The company has currently developed a series of leak-free canned pumps suitable for transporting flammable and explosive media, and has completed the independent development of Russia's first large-capacity cryogenic pump, continuously participating in the localization of equipment for the liquefied natural gas (СПГ / LNG) industry.

The construction of the MBIR nuclear research facility is a key strategic project for consolidating Russia's frontier research and development strength in advanced reactors. After commissioning, the facility will focus on serving research into dual-component nuclear energy systems (Двухкомпонентная ядерная энергетика), verification of nuclear fuel cycle closure (Замыкание ядерного топливного цикла), and providing key engineering experimental data for the safety design of fourth-generation nuclear energy reactors.