Rosatom announces nine fast reactors for closing the fuel cycle.

The Russian state corporation Rosatom plans to build nine nuclear energy blocks with fast neutrons by 2042, confirmed Alexander Lokshin, the First Deputy General Director of Rosatom. This ambitious goal has officially been included in the General Plan for the Deployment of Electric Power Facilities of the Russian Federation, and was presented to the public during the plenary session of the international conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) titled 'FR-26', which is taking place in Beijing these days.

In Rosatom's official statement, it is emphasized that the gradual shift to fast reactor technology and closed nuclear fuel cycle is not only a matter of technological prestige, but a strategic imperative for the global energy sector.

“Fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle are not only a means to increase the efficiency of nuclear energy, but a prerequisite for its long-term survival,” said Lokshin.

He explained that as the fleet of fast reactors expands, their contribution to preserving natural uranium reserves will grow, as well as addressing a key environmental and political issue – managing spent nuclear fuel that comes from conventional thermal (mostly light-water) reactors.

Incidentally, the fifth IAEA international conference on fast reactors and fuel cycles "FR-26" is being held in the Chinese capital from May 18 to 22, 2026, under the slogan "From Innovation to Implementation". The program of the gathering is divided into nine thematic areas covering all phases—from innovative design and licensing, through economics, to training personnel and public communication.

The honorary chairman of this year's conference is Evgeny Adamov, scientific director of the project "Proryv" (Prodor) – Rosatom's comprehensive program for the development of next-generation nuclear technology. The backbone of this program is the experimental-demonstration energy complex in Seversk, which includes the BREST-OD-300 reactor cooled by liquid lead, as well as modules for production and processing of spent nitride fuel, about which we wrote yesterday. Nine planned commercial units by 2042 will represent a direct industrial replication and scaling of these technologies.

The announcement of building as many as nine commercial energy blocks with fast neutrons by 2042 represents a clear signal that Russia is slowly but surely ending the era of experimentation.

Fast reactors address the two biggest drawbacks of the nuclear sector – they practically eliminate the already small problem of accumulating spent fuel (by using it as a resource) and drastically reduce dependence on mining natural uranium. The fact that this strategy is being presented in China, a country that is also rapidly developing its own fast reactors, shows where today the technological epicenter of the nuclear renaissance lies.

Additionally, interest in fast reactors is slowly but surely growing. For now, we do not have much information about the situation in the United States, but we know for sure that in France there has also been announced the construction of an entire fleet of so-called fast reactors, and that by 2100 natural uranium imports will have completely ceased.

S.A.