Products

MSZ JSC manufactures fuel and components thereof for water-cooled water-moderated, light water graphite, research and propulsion reactors as well as for fast breeder reactors.

The nuclear fuel supplied to NPPs of Russian design consists of sintered fuel pellets made of uranium dioxide loaded into fuel rods (leak-tight zirconium-alloy metal tubes), inside which nuclear fission reaction takes place, accompanied by the release of thermal power. MSZ JSC manufactures fuel rods at automated manufacturing lines equipped with modern instrumentation and control equipment that guarantee high product quality and reliability.

MSZ JSC delivers reactor fuel in the form of fuel assemblies (FAs). Every FA contains from 18 to 350 fuel rods. For example, one VVER-1000 FA weighs about 760 kg. All in all, 163 FAs are loaded into the reactor core, which is approximately 80 tonnes of uranium dioxide.

An important area of MSZ JSC’s activity is the manufacture of elements for reactor control and protection systems: absorber rods and rod cluster control assemblies. The equipment is designed to control the reactor at its start-up, power operation and scheduled outage.

MSZ JSC also manufactures thin-walled tubes used in nuclear, aerospace and other high-tech industries as structural materials. At present, over 400 standard sizes of tube products of various grades are manufactured by MSZ JSC.

VVER-440 FUEL

Since 1970, power units with VVER-440 reactors have been demonstrating accident-free operation. Today, they operate at Kola NPP and Novovoronezh NPP.

MSZ JSC manufactures generation II and III VVER-440 fuel. These types of nuclear fuel allow five- or six-year fuel cycles to be implemented with increased thermal power.

VVER-1000 FUEL

A water-cooled water-moderated pressurised reactor is one of the most common power reactor types in the world. This type includes VVER-440 and VVER-1000 reactors of Russian design. In comparison to VVER-440 reactor, VVER-1000 reactor is more than twice as powerful, primarily due to its enlarged core as well as the increased fuel rating. Start-up of the first reactor of this type took place in 1980 at Novovoronezh NPP unit 5. Fuel for its first loading was manufactured by MSZ JSC.

Today, MSZ JSC manufactures generation IV fuel for VVER-1000 reactors, namely TVSA-12 Plus and TVS-2M, which, by increasing fuel resident time and implementing extended fuel cycles, improved operational performance of the NPP.

At present, MSZ JSC delivers this type of fuel to Kalinin NPP and Balakovo NPP.

VVER-1200 FUEL

Unique safety-related engineering solutions were applied in VVER-1200 reactor construction, which allow this reactor to be categorised as a generation III+ reactor. In comparison to VVER-1000 reactor, this model is characterised by 20% higher power, 60-year service life and the capability to operate for 18 months without refuelling. Reactor of this type was commissioned in 2016 at Novovoronezh NPP unit 6.

VVER-1200 fuel has an enhanced uranium loading and provides reactor operation applying flexible fuel cycles that run for various amounts of time, with the possibility of daily load follow operation, which makes operation of power units more cost-effective.

At present, this type of fuel is supplied to Leningrad NPP-2, Novovoronezh NPP2, Kursk NPP-2 and Belarusian NPP.

FAST BREEDER REACTOR FUEL

A fast breeder reactor is a category of sodium-cooled nuclear reactors. At present, fast breeder fuel is operated at two power units in Russia – BN-600 and BN-800 at Beloyarsk NPP.

FUEL FOR ICEBREAKERS, FNHPP AND SNPP

MSZ JSC manufactures nuclear fuel for reactors installed at Yamal, 50 Years of Victory, Taymyr and Vaygach icebreakers as well as Sevmorput LASH carrier/container ship. And also for Project 22220’s all-purpose nuclear icebreakers with RITM-200-type reactors: Arktika, Sibir, Ural, Yakutiya and Chukotka.

In 2012, MSZ JSC manufactured two cores for the world’s first floating nuclear heat and power plant Akademik Lomonosov. At this FNHPP, nuclear fuel is replaced once every few years with full discharge of the entire reactor core and full reload with fresh fuel.

In 2021, MSZ JSC manufactured a test FA with nuclear fuel for RITM-200N reactor. It will be operated at the world's first on-ground SNPP under construction in Yakutia.

Protection and control system

Since 2011, MSZ JSC has been manufacturing absorber rods and rod cluster control assemblies for control and protection systems at VVER, RBMK, BN, research as well as propulsion reactors. Absorber rods are leak-tight tubes loaded with pellets made of boron carbide and dysprosium titanate powder mixture. The equipment is designed to control the reactor at its start-up, power operation and scheduled outage.

Various elements of reactor control and protection systems are manufactured at MSZ JSC’s site: rods with burnable and additional absorber, emergency shutdown rods, automatically and manually regulated rods, etc.

THIN-WALLED TUBES

MSZ JSC manufactures precision cold-rolled thin-walled and extremely thin-walled tubes made of stainless steels and alloys. These products have high strength and are resistant to corrosive damage. They are used in nuclear, aerospace and other high-tech industries as structural materials.

The advantages of thin-walled and extremely thin-walled tubes are: lower weight and throughput of a larger volume of medium compared to similar thick-walled tubes of the same diameter.

MSZ JSC manufactures over 400 standard sizes of tube product of various grades. Manufactured tube diameters vary from 1 to 120 mm with wall thickness from 0.06 to 7 mm. Production capacities make it possible to annually manufacture around 500000 m of tube products of various intended purposes.

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