Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant

{{Short description|Nuclear power plant in Obninsk, Russia (operates 1954–2002)}}

{{Infobox power station

|name = Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant

|image = RIAN archive 409173 World's first nuclear power plant in Obninsk.jpg

|image_caption = Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant Museum

|location = Obninsk, Kaluga Oblast

|country = Russia

|coordinates = {{coord|55|05|02|N|36|34|17|E|region:RU-KLU_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

|owner = Rosatom

|operator = Energoatom

|construction_began = 1 January 1951

|commissioned = 26 June 1954

|decommissioned = 29 April 2002

|np_reactor_type = AM-1

|ps_cogeneration = Yes

|ps_units_operational =

|ps_units_decommissioned = 1 × 5 MW

|ps_units_uc =

|status = D

|ps_electrical_capacity = 5

|website =

}}

Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant ({{langx|ru|Обнинская АЭС|Obninskaya AES}}; {{Audio|Ru-Обнинская атомная электростанция.ogg|pronunciation}}) was built in the "Science City" of Obninsk,[http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featureobninsk-number-one Nuclear Engineering International: Obninsk - number one, by Lev Kotchetkov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102021944/http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featureobninsk-number-one |date=2 November 2013 }}, who was there at the time. Source for most of the information in this article. Kaluga Oblast, about {{cvt|110|km}} southwest of Moscow, Soviet Union. Connected to the power grid in June 1954, Obninsk was the first grid-connected nuclear power plant in the world,{{cite book |author=Paul R. Josephson |title=Red Atom: Russia's Nuclear Power Program from Stalin to Today |year=2005 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre |isbn=978-0-8229-7847-3 |page=2}} i.e. the first nuclear reactor that produced electricity industrially,{{cite book |title=Nuclear engineering: theory and technology of commercial nuclear power |author=Ronald Allen Knief |year=1992 |edition=2nd |publisher=Hemisphere Pub. Corp. |isbn=978-1-56032-088-3 |page=303}} albeit at small scale.{{cite book |editor1=Steven B Krivit |editor2=Jay H Lehr |editor3=Thomas B Kingery |title=Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia: Science, Technology, and Applications |year=2011 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-04347-9 |pages=26 and 138}} It was located at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering.{{cite web |title=Nuclear Power in Russia |work=World Nuclear Association |url=http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html |access-date=27 June 2006 |archive-date=13 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213052522/http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html |url-status=live }} The plant is also known as APS-1 Obninsk (Atomic Power Station 1 Obninsk). It remained in operation between 1954 and 2002. Its production of electricity for the grid ceased in 2002; thereafter it functioned as a research and isotope production plant only.{{Cite book |last=National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on End Points for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Russia and the United States. |title=End Points for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in Russia and the United States |date=2003 |publisher=National Academies Press |others=National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Radioactive Waste Management. |isbn=0-309-50718-9 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=22 |oclc=52856463}}

According to Lev Kotchetkov, who was there at the time: "Although utilisation of generated heat was going on, and production of isotopes was even enhanced, the main task was to carry out experimental studies on 17 test loops installed in the reactor." The technology perfected in the Obninsk pilot plant{{cite book |author=International Atomic Energy Agency |title=Nuclear Power Economics Vol II |year=1968 |publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency |quote=first atomic power station Obninsk - pilot plant for the development of graphite-moderated steam-cooled ... |page=95 |oclc=24577447 |series=Bibliographical Series no. 30}} was later employed on a much larger scale in the RBMK reactors.

Design

The single reactor unit at the plant, AM-1 ("{{lang|ru|Атом Мирный}}", Atom Mirny, Russian for "Peaceful Atom"), had a total electrical capacity of 6 MW and a net capacity of around 5 MWe. Thermal output was 30 MW. It was a prototype design using a graphite moderator and water coolant. This reactor was a forerunner of the RBMK reactors.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

The Obninsk reactor used 5% enriched uranium; this percentage would be lowered for subsequent reactors.

{{cite book |author=S. E. Hunt |title=Fission, Fusion and The Energy Crisis |url=https://archive.org/details/fissionfusionene0000hunt | url-access= registration |year=1980 |publisher=Pergamon Press |isbn=978-1-4831-4861-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fissionfusionene0000hunt/page/92 92] |edition=2nd}}

History

Construction started on 31 December 1950. First criticality was achieved on 2 May 1954, and the first grid connection was made on 27 June 1954.{{cite web |url=http://www.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=447 |title=APS-1 OBNINSK (Atomic Power Station 1 Obninsk) |publisher=IAEA |work=Power Reactor Information System |access-date=23 July 2014 |archive-date=4 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204122307/http://www.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=447 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.industcards.com/nuclear-ru.htm |title=Nuclear Power Plants in Russia |publisher=Power Plants Around The World |work=Gallery |date=3 March 2014 |access-date=23 July 2014 |archive-date=27 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627052920/https://industcards.com/ |url-status=usurped }} For around four years, until the opening of the Siberian Nuclear Power Station, Obninsk remained the only nuclear power reactor in the Soviet Union; the power plant remained active until 29 April 2002 when it was finally shut down. According to Kotchetkov, in its 48 years of operation there were no significant incidents resulting in personnel overdose or mortality, or radioactive release to the environment exceeding permissible limits.

The next Soviet nuclear power plant to be connected to their grid was Beloyarsk Unit 1 in 1964 with a capacity of 100 MWe.{{cite book |editor1=Steven B Krivit |editor2=Jay H Lehr |editor3=Thomas B Kingery |title=Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia: Science, Technology, and Applications |year=2011 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-04347-9 |page=29}}