"The strategic goal is to create a hybrid reactor"
The World Atomic Week, which was attended by representatives of more than 100 countries, has ended in Moscow. The fact that it took place on these days is not surprising, because on September 28, Russia celebrates the Day of the Nuclear Industry Worker. And the founding day of our country's nuclear industry is considered to be August 20 — in 1945, Joseph Stalin signed an order from the State Defense Committee to create a special committee to "direct all work on the use of intraatomic uranium energy." But the implementation of the Soviet atomic project began earlier, back in the fall of 1942, when the GKO issued an order to resume work on uranium, interrupted by the war. Under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov, a special laboratory was created, which eventually became the world-famous Kurchatov Institute. Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute Research and Development Center, spoke about the most important modern trends and developments in nuclear technology in an interview with Izvestia.
The closed cycle and the problem of nuclear waste
— Vladimir Putin, speaking to the participants of the World Atomic Week, said that by 2030 Russia will launch the world's first nuclear power system with a closed fuel cycle. And this technology will solve the problem of the accumulation of radioactive waste. What is it about?
— We are talking about reactor technologies of the 4th generation, which are primarily aimed at solving safety and economic efficiency problems. These include, first of all, fast neutron reactors, which make it possible to operate in a closed fuel cycle, expand the fuel base indefinitely, and comprehensively solve the problem of spent fuel accumulation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting of the international forum "World Atomic Week"
— And how does nuclear power work now?
— Today, nuclear power is based on thermal neutron reactors powered by uranium-235. Naturally mined uranium consists of two isotopes: uranium-235 and uranium-238. At the same time, the content of uranium-235 is extremely low — only 0.7%. But uranium-238 is the so-called raw isotope. In order for it to participate in the fission chain reaction, it must first be converted into plutonium-239, and only then used as nuclear fuel. This can be done most effectively with the help of fast neutrons.
— What is the essence of fast reactors?
— Fast reactors additionally produce new fuel from uranium-238, plutonium—239, in the process of energy production. This is achieved by using a special reactor design and materials, in particular the core device, cooling systems with a liquid metal coolant, which, unlike water cooling, retains fast neutrons. Moreover, a fast reactor can produce more fissile material than it consumes when operating at capacity. In other words, the fuel base of nuclear energy is increasing many times, since all uranium-238 can be converted into nuclear fuel.
There are dozens of times more reserves of uranium-238 in nature than uranium-235. With the existing capacities, our nuclear power industry, using uranium-235 as fuel for nuclear reactors, is provided with a fuel base for decades. But the uranium-238 energy system will be provided with fuel for thousands of years. The closed fuel cycle is directly related to fast neutron reactors, spent fuel reprocessing, and the release of valuable uranium-plutonium components for the manufacture of new nuclear fuel.
— In which countries does the technology of fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle exist?
— Industrial generation was established in France at about the same level as in the USSR and Russia. However, unresolved issues of fast reactor technology, especially with a closed fuel cycle, have forced Western countries to abandon financing in this area. It can be said that other countries did not have the patience to overcome the very difficult technical and technological problems associated with fast reactors. China is hardly a leader in this field. He is rather a diligent student, mastering the Soviet and Russian experience in this area.
The development of nuclear energy based on fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle is associated with a number of scientific and technological problems. This is not only the creation of fast reactors themselves, but also nuclear fuel reprocessing technologies. The USSR, and then Russia, consistently solved these problems and, as a result, proved the technical feasibility of working in a closed fuel cycle.
China and India have closed-cycle fuel cycle programs. But it is difficult to assess the scale of these programs: these countries have not yet demonstrated much success in this area.
Russia supports relevant programs at the state level, while Western countries have curtailed them. Partly due to the inability to solve technical (technological) problems, partly for economic reasons — they concentrate funds on the development of green energy.
Inexhaustible fuel reserves
— How is Russia developing nuclear energy today?
— For the sustainable development of nuclear energy, the national technological leadership project "New Nuclear and Energy Technologies" has been launched, aimed primarily at the development of 4th generation nuclear technologies and the transition to two-component nuclear power with thermal and fast neutron reactors with a closed nuclear fuel cycle (Nuclear Project 2.0). The Kurchatov Institute Research Center has been designated as the main scientific organization of this project.
— Our country is the founder of the development of controlled thermonuclear fusion (TCF) in the world. The first tokamaks were created at the Kurchatov Institute back in the mid-1950s. And how are TCB technologies developing today?
— Today, on behalf of the president, a large-scale program is being implemented to develop modern technologies for controlled thermonuclear fusion. The Kurchatov Institute is the initiator of this program and the main scientific organization. The prospects for TCB work are related to the creation of a new environmentally friendly energy source. In a fusion reaction, this is the fusion of the nuclei of two light atoms to form a heavier one. Compared to other methods of energy production, thermonuclear energy has fundamental advantages.
First, there are practically inexhaustible reserves of fuel. The energy produced by the fusion reaction is almost ten times higher than the energy of the fission reaction. Secondly, it is practically safe in case of any possible accidents, since it does not contain highly radioactive waste. In addition, a situation with uncontrolled "overclocking" of the reactor is impossible in a thermonuclear reactor, because with the development of an emergency, the plasma discharge stops.
The strategic goal of controlled thermonuclear fusion is to create a hybrid reactor for producing fuel for thermal nuclear reactors. In a hybrid reactor, the neutrons needed to produce fuel (uranium-233 or plutonium-239) are generated by a thermonuclear neutron source in deuterium and tritium fusion reactions. Coping with the growing demand for energy at the expense of the main energy resources — oil and gas — will become increasingly difficult over the years. The joint operation of a hybrid reactor and nuclear power plants in the future will completely solve the energy needs of mankind.
— How environmentally friendly are controlled fusion technologies?
— It is very important that new technologies in the energy sector do not harm the environment. This is possible not only by minimizing the consumption of natural resources, but also by switching to new principles of energy generation and consumption. Humanity can solve such complex tasks with the help of nature-like technologies, which are actively developing today at the Kurchatov Institute. And controlled thermonuclear fusion is considered the closest to the practical use of such nature-like energy technologies. Thermonuclear energy is the cleanest way to generate energy.
Technologies of the 21st century
— And when will such energy be able to be used in everyday life?
— The industrial stage (serial commercial stations) will probably be implemented in the second half of the 21st century. The tokamak (toroidal chamber with magnetic coils), which is being built as part of the international ITER project, will not produce electricity, it must demonstrate a stable synthesis reaction. The following projects in different countries will already be a pilot demonstration power plant. The first launch can be expected in the 2040s and 2050s.
The idea of a hybrid reactor proposed at the Kurchatov Institute, in which the tokamak plays the role of a neutron source for producing fuel for thermal nuclear reactors (uranium-233 from thorium-232), allows us to simultaneously solve the problem of growing energy consumption and the problem of nuclear waste disposal. The use of a thermonuclear reactor as part of a hybrid installation imposes milder requirements on the operating modes of the installation and seems easier to implement than pure fusion. Perhaps today's youth will use the energy produced using a hybrid reactor plant.
— The ITER project is international, but the idea itself was born in our country, wasn't it?
— ITER appeared on the initiative of academician Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov, so initially it was Russia that was the ideologist of the project. Today we occupy one of the key positions in the implementation of ITER. The main ITER systems, for which Russia is responsible in the project, are gyrotrons, diagnostic systems, toroidal and poloidal field winding conductors, divertor elements of the vacuum chamber design and the ITER electromagnetic tokamak system.
In the format of national programs, Russia, which began working on TCB in the world back in the 1950s, has one of the world's strongest scientific reserves in the field of tokamaks. The modern T-15MD is a scientific plasma research facility at the Kurchatov Institute. The first plasma on it was obtained in March 2023. And in March 2025, Russian scientists reached a record plasma current of 500 kA in the Tokamak T-15MD, and the range of operating magnetic fields was expanded to 1.5 Tesla.
Prototype of the upgraded hybrid thermonuclear reactor T-15MD at the stand of the Kurchatov Institute
Work is currently underway on the Tokamak to increase the plasma heating capacity. This will make it possible to increase the so—called triple product: the product of ion temperature, plasma density, and energy retention time, which is the most important parameter for obtaining a self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction.
TRT (tokamak with reactor technologies) is the next step in the development of thermonuclear fusion technologies. His main goal is not to chase records, but to test all the elements of a future thermonuclear power plant in conditions as close as possible to real ones. The role of the TRT is extremely important: it is a bridge between the research ITER and the future commercial thermonuclear reactor. If ITER proves a scientific possibility, then TRT should prove the engineering and technological feasibility of all systems of a future thermonuclear power plant. The success of the TRT will allow Russia to have its own sovereign reserve for the creation of a commercial thermonuclear reactor.
— How do you see the future of nuclear energy?
— This is a two-component nuclear power industry, which uses both thermal and fast neutron nuclear reactors. Two-component nuclear power, complemented by a hybrid tokamak, which is used as a neutron source, will make it possible to close the fuel cycle and provide our country with fuel for nuclear energy for hundreds of years.
In 2024, a group of scientists from the Kurchatov Institute and Rosatom State Atomic Energy Company was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the technological implementation of the main elements of the new two-component nuclear energy.
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