Shevchenko BN350 nuclear fast reactor and desalination plant situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The former plant could generate 135 MW_e and provide steam for an associated desalination plant. View of the interior of the reactor hall.

BN350 desalination unit. View of the only nuclear-heated desalination unit in the world.

The BN-350 was a sodium-cooled fast reactor nuclear power plant located at Aktau (formally known as Shevchenko from 1964-1992), Kazakhstan, situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea. A Liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor or LMFR is an advanced type of Nuclear reactor where the primary Coolant A fast neutron reactor or simply a fast reactor is a category of Nuclear reactor in which the fission Chain reaction is sustained by Fast neutrons Nuclear power is any Nuclear technology designed to extract usable Energy from atomic nuclei via controlled Nuclear reactions Aktau (Ақтау Aqtaw; Актау Aktau) until 1992 Shevchenko (Шевченко is a city in Kazakhstan 's Mangyshlak Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged Sea. Construction of the BN-350 Fast breeder reactor began in 1964, and the plant first produced electricity in 1973. The fast breeder or fast breeder reactor ( FBR) is a Fast neutron reactor designed to breed fuel by producing more Fissile material In addition to providing power for the city (150 MW_e), BN-350 was also used for producing plutonium and for desalination to supply fresh water (120,000 m³ fresh water/day) to the city. Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove excess salt and other Minerals from Water

The project lifetime of the reactor officially finished in 1993, and in June of 1994, the reactor was forced to shut down because of a lack of funds to buy fuel. By 1995, the plant's operating license had expired. The facility continued to operate far below capacity until reactor operations ceased in 1999, when plutonium-bearing spent fuel stopped being produced.

See also

• Desalination
• BN-600 reactor
• BN-800 reactor

External links and sources

• ANL report on Early Soviet Fast Reactors

• ANL update from 1995

• IAEA: Status of the BN-350 Fast Reactor for the period of May 1996 - May 1997

• Criticality Safety Issues in the Disposition of BN-350 Spent Fuel presented on June 4-8, 2000

• BN-350 Spent Fuel Disposition

• BN-350 Spent Fuel Disposition Word Document (Retrieved 2007-02-18)

• NTI: Securing Nuclear Warheads and Materials by Matthew Bunn, last updated by Josh Friedman on August 5, 2004