SOVIET NAVAL NUCLEAR REACTORS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: CIA Analysis of the Soviet Navy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005508935
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: June 19, 2017
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2017
• Case Number: SC-2007-00006
• Publication Date: January 11, 1983

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
11 January 1983
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
FROM ?
Clair George
Acting Deputy Director for Operations
SUBJECT ?
Soviet Naval Nuclear Reactors
1. The enclosed Intelligence Information Special Report
describes Soviet naval nuclear reactors in use and under develop-
merit, including fuel composition, some aspects of core design
and some specifics of reactor performance. The information was
acquired from a Soviet with a technical background and good access
to the information.
2. Because the source of this report is extra sensitive,
this document should be handled on a strict need-to-know basis
within recipient agencies.
Clair George
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CARRY CLAS3IFICAliON AND LoNiKoL?, 01 uvLRALL DOCUMENT.
THIS DOCUMENT MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED.
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Distribution:
Director of Central Intelligence
Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
Director of Naval Intelligence
Department of the Navy
Director, National Security Agency
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director for Intelligence
Director of Scientific and Weapons Research
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COUNTRY USSR
DATE OF
Nfla Mid-1982
SOURCE
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Intelligence Information Special Report
SUBJECT
DATE 11 January 1983
Design and Performance of Soviet Naval Nuclear Reactors
SUMMARY
Soviet source
This report describes some aspects of the Soviet development
program for naval nuclear propulsion plants, which makes extensive
use of nuclear icebreakers as test-beds for new core designs. The
cores described are the VM-14-5/02, the VM-14-5/03 using reprocessed
fuel, and the VM-149/M. Brief data are given on the nuclear reactor
aboard the KIROV-class guided missile cruiser and the liquid-metal
cooled reactor aboard the ALFA-class submarine. A new type of
nuclear submarine "with eggs" is reported to be undergoing testing
in the Black Sea. The fuel burn-up value is given for a future
icebreaker reactor core.
END OF SUMMARY
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1. On the basis of Soviet Government Decree No. 546-177 of
17 June 1977 titled, "Plans for Development of Nuclear Science
and Technology until 1990", the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building
and the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet issued joint order No. SR
588-80 on 20 March 1980 stipulating that all new reactor core de-
signs intended for nuclear submarines should be tested onboard
nuclear icebreakers.
2. There is essentially one reactor design, although power
levels may vary; this is the OK-900, which is the "work-horse" of
the Soviet Navy. ? The Soviets are trying to standardize fuel pin
design. The KLT-40-01 is essentially the same reactor design as
the OK-900, but in an unclassified version to permit the construc-
tion of nuclear icebreakers in Finland. The KLT-40-01 uses VM
cores. There are currently three VM cores which have been or are
being tested. These are the VM-14-5/02, the VM-14-5/03 and the
VM-149/M, described below.
.The VM-14-5/02 Core
3. There are two kinds of fuel pins in the core; "heavy"
pins containing 16 grams of U-235 at 45 percent enrichment and
"light" pins containing 12.9 grams of U-235 at 30 percent enrich-
ment. There are about 10,000 heavy pins and about 2,200 light
pins, containing a total of 197.5 kilograms of U-235. The fuel
pins are assembled into two kinds of fuel element designs, one
kind containing 26 light fuel pins and the other kind containing
48 heavy fuel pins. Each pin has an external diameter of 7 mm
and an active length of 900 mm. The diameter of the core is 1,500
mm, giving a moderator-to-fuel volume ratio of 3.3. The lattice
is triangular. The enriched uranium is embedded in a matrix of
N Al Si 03 (also given as N AT Si 04). The fuel pins are not
pre-pressurized with helium.
4. There is an extensive development program on burnable
poisons:
a. A gadolineum-mono-aluminate compound has been devel-
oped which is in current operation. The burnable poison is
apparently manufactured by a co-extrusion method where the
poison is drawn together with its canning (also given as
compensator wall)--a very thin tube of ZH-844B1J-UD (also
given as ZHE-844GY-UD) alloy measuring 0.12 mm thickness.
The fuel can wall measures 0.3 mm. The total amount of
gadolineum in the core is 38 kilograms plus or minus 0.11
kilograms.
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b. Two experimental fuel assemblies containing burnable
poison of gadolineum-titano-niobate are installed in this
core. The mass of gadolineum in each absorber is 22.57 grams
plus or minus 0.87 grams. The specific density of this poison
is 3.5 plus 0.17 or minus 0.7 grams per cubic centimeter.
c. Two types of gadolineum-mono-aluminate are under
study, one developed by the Kharkov Physico-Technical Insti-
tute and one developed by the Moscow POLIMETAL Plant. The
latter type is drawn to a higher specific weight.
d. Burnable absorbers of gadolineum-mono-molybdenate and
gadolineum-mono-zirconate are also under study. Densities of
up to 4.5 grams per cubic centimeter have been achieved.
Three experimental fuel assemblies with gadolineum-mono-
aluminate are being irradiated. The canning is made of non-
deformed steel. Similar burnable poisons with zirconium
cladding are also under study.
e. Two rods with zirconium canning (E-110 alloy) are
currently being manufactured for the third unit of VM-14-5/02.
The detailed distribution of burnable poison in the core is
not known, but fuel pins do contain burnable poison in varying
amounts.
5. Beryllium oxide serves as a neutron source, using the
gamma-neutron reaction. The core contains 32 kilograms of Be0.
6. The power level is 180 megawatts.
7. The control rods are neither crosses nor "finger" elements.
There are two kinds: The emergency rods, consisting of four groups
of four rods each, for a total of 16, and the compensators of reac-
tivity, consisting of about 400 rods in five groups. The emergency
rods are equal to the core height of 900 mm and contain boron. The
compensators of reactivity have a length of about SOO mm and con-
tain europeum and gadolineum.
The VM-14-5/03 Core
8. The dimensions of this core are the same as for the VM-14-
5/02, but the number of fuel pins and the enrichments are different.
There are 597 light pins containing a total of 112.95 kilograms of
U-235 at 55.6 percent enrichment, and 6,732 heavy pins containing a
total of 157.53 kilograms of U-235 at 68.6 percent enrichment, for
a total of 270.465 (sic) kilograms of U-235. The "wall" is steel.
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9. The core contains 29.2 kilograms of gadolineum and 325
grams plus or minus 5 grams of boron. The neutron source is 6.2
kilograms of beryllium oxide. The bottom parts of the scram rods
consist of europeum oxide. _
10. This is the first core to use regenerative fuel.
Comment: This presumably means reprocessed fuel.] is
is by joint order No. 624-81 of the Ministry of Medium Machine-
Building and the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet.
? 11. The design burn-up level for this core is 2.6 X 106 mega-
watt-hours. The power level is 171 megawatts. Power cycling has
been studied extensively. A core has been cycled 20,000 times in
the range of 20-100 percent of full power with a rate of change of
one percent per second. The amplitude of each cycle was plus or
minus 25 percent. The system of reactivity control makes it
possible to change the power from 10-6 to 10-2 percent using
neutron flux meters and from 10-4 to 20 percent using neutron
current flux meters.
The VM-149M Core
12. This is a low-enriched uranium dioxide core to be designed.
Comment: Apparently in the early stages of design.]
is mm ig with a diameter of 1212 mm. The fuel pins have
a diameter of 9.1 mm. The canning material is zirconium. This core
has heavy pins containing 23 grams plus or minus 0.8 grams of U-235
at 6.5 percent enrichment and light pins containing 17.7 grams plus
or minus 0.7 grams of U-235 at 5 percent enrichment. It has a
total of 109.45 kilograms plus or minus 1.9 kilograms of U-235,
5 kilograms of gadolineum and 10 kilograms plus or minus 0.2 kilo-
grams of beryllium. The power level is 100 megawatts. The design
burn-up level is 106 megawatt-hours.
The KIROV-Class CGN
13. The KIROV-class guided missile cruiser KIROV has a VM-
14-5/03 reactor core modified so that the fuel pin length is
1,100 mm instead of 900 mm. Its power level is slightly higher
than that of the OK-900. During sea trials the KIROV showed a
design speed of 40 knots at 83 percent of fuel power.
Performance of Submarine Reactors
14. Reactor cores now being operated in submarines have a
fuel burn-up design value of 600,000 megawatt-hours, but in fact
have worked only up to 2,000 (sic) megawatt-hours.
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15. The "golden fishes" with liquid metal cooled power plants
are still in operation. A lead-bismuth-eutectic is used. Current
performance is not known but ten years ago it was poor.
Comment: "Golden fish" is the Soviet nickname for the ALFA-class
submarine.]
16. The new type of nuclear submarine "with eggs" is currently
undergoing testing in the Black Sea.
17. The future core KLT-40-01 will have a fuel burn-up value
of 3.2 X 106 megawatt-hours.
Radiation Tolerances
18. Operational control of naval reactors is maintained through
a combination of the use of control rods and of water flow in the
primary circuit. Fuel pin failures are tolerated up to a threshold
level of radioactivity of the primary coolant of 10-2 Curies per
liter. If this level is exceeded the core is removed. The normal
radiation dose tolerated for crew members is 5 rem per year. The
emergency tolerated radiation dose is 25 rem.
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