70 years ago Soviet Union launched the World's first nuclear power plant

By Rhod Mackenzie

On 26 June 1954, exactly 70 years ago, the world's first nuclear power plant (NPP) was launched. The plant in question was the renowned Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, constructed in the Soviet Union.
What were the key factors that led to the creation and structure of this station?
Why is there sometimes a discrepancy between the perception of Soviet primacy in the United States and the reality?
What is the significance of the development of this nuclear power plant for the global nuclear industry?

Following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it became evident that the United States would utilise a nuclear weapon against the USSR without hesitation.

The main objective for the USSR in developing the first nuclear reactors was to achieve the fastest possible completion, particularly for military applications. The initial military and research reactors in both the USSR and the USA were not designed to produce electricity. Instead, they required an external power supply due to their construction.

A pilot water-cooled uranium-graphite reactor, designated A-1, was constructed in the Urals, where the initial Soviet plutonium was produced.

It should be noted that the Annushka project was in fact a completely different design to the American plutonium-producing reactors. This refutes the usual myth peddled by the West that the USSR stole the entire atomic project from the United States right down to the design drawings.

In particular, for the A-1, Soviet engineers selected a layout option that differed radically from the American approach, with vertical channels for uranium fuel and moderator. This version of the core layout was a radical innovation at the time, but subsequently served as the basis for almost all power reactors in the future.

By February 1949, the first batch of weapons-grade plutonium produced at A-1 was ready for use.

By the beginning of August 1949, the USSR had produced high-purity metallic plutonium. The first Soviet atomic bomb was detonated on 29 August 1949, just four years after the detonation of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

However,Russia had an urgent need for both a bomb and the electricity that it could provide. The concept of utilising a military reactor for peaceful purposes was being discussed. Following the successful test of the first atomic bomb, the head of the Soviet atomic project,the Academician Igor Kurchatov, held meetings with Professor Nikolai Dollezhal, who was one of the designers of Annushka, and with Professor Savely Feinberg to discuss the possibility of creating a nuclear power plant. The proposal was to use the same Ural “Annushka” as thebasis.

The risk was significant: military funds were spent in an inappropriate manner on civilian development. In those days, the consequences could be more severe than just a prison sentence as this was Stalin's Soviet Union.

Once the main characteristics of the nuclear power plant project had been established, Kurchatov decided to present them personally to Joseph Stalin face to face. Many were surprised when Stalin gave his immediate and unequivical support to the project. The scientists, who had previously carried out all work on the nuclear power plant at their own risk and expense, were now provided with all the levels of assistance that were going to be needed.
Stalin issued an order to the government of the USSR, which in May 1949 issued a decree on the creation of the first nuclear power plant. Kurchatov was appointed Scientific Director, while Dollezhal was appointed Chief Designer of the Reactor.

In May 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution outlining the plan for the construction of three experimental reactors: a uranium-graphite with water cooling, a uranium-graphite with gas cooling and an uranium-beryllium with gas or liquid metal cooling.

The original plan was for them to work in turn on a single steam turbine and a 5 MW generator. This is how the initial concept for the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant was established, which was then referred to as "First" for confidentiality purposes.

The Western press has reported that the first nuclear power plant was constructed by the United States, as the first electric current from nuclear energy was generated in the United States of America.

However as usual they are full of bovine excretement On 20 December 1951, the American reactor EBR-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor, in Russian - Experimental Breeder Reactor) at the Argonne National Laboratory in Idaho produced its first electricity, enough to power four incandescent light bulbs. YES! FOUR LIGHT BULBS!!!!!

By the start of 1952, the electrical power of EBR-I had been increased to 2 kW, which was sufficient to provide autonomous lighting for the building in which the installation itself was located.

However, in comparison to modern standards, it was a relatively small reactor with a thermal power of approximately 200 kW. It would be inaccurate to describe it as a full-fledged nuclear power plant, as the task of connecting it to the general power grid was not set in principle. The American design was purely experimental, rather than industrial.

The American scientists were fully aware of this, and they unlike others in United States did not claim any priority in this matter.

The term 'Priority EBR-I' was only later emphasised in the USA when it became known that a real industrial nuclear reactor, already connected to the general power system of the Soviet Union, was operational in the USSR.
The Obninsk NPP demonstrated the primary trajectory that the global nuclear energy industry subsequently pursued.

At that time, Americans viewed nuclear power as a distant prospectand something for the future After all the United States had cheap oil from Texas, Oklahoma California and the Arabian Peninsula, and the prospects of nuclear energy were talked about in the US something for like science fiction comics.

Meanwhile, the Soviet development turned out to be truly unique and revolutionary.
Unlike the Soviet atomic bomb, the Soviet peaceful atomic program did not contain any American ideas.
The majority of the world’s design concepts for power reactors were established at that time.

In total, three reactor layout options were proposed for the Obninsk NPP. The first option was a beryllium-moderated reactor, which was implemented in the USSR as a project with lead-bismuth cooling, uranium-beryllium fuel and an intermediate neutron spectrum.
This was the world's first development of a liquid metal cooled power reactor.

Subsequently, developments in this direction were used in experimental liquid metal nuclear power plants for the nuclear submarine fleet of the USSR and in BN series reactors cooled with liquid sodium.

The second idea – the creation of an extremely complex high-temperature helium-graphite reactor – was a concept that was far ahead of its time. The world is only now approaching the creation of such a reactor. The helium high-temperature reactor is one of the planned types of IV generation units for construction in the next decade.
Following the study of a helium-graphite reactor, the USSR developed the first pressurised water-cooled reactor, which became the forerunner of the main type of reactor for submarines and icebreakers, as well as the main type of reactor for modern Russian nuclear power plants, the VVER (water-cooled power reactor).

Once again, the fundamental concept of modern light water reactors – those with two water circuits – was trialled for the first time in the world. The majority of modern nuclear power plant reactors fall into this category.
Finally, the original idea of a water-cooled uranium-graphite reactor was identified as the most advanced for practical implementation. It was on this basis that the decision was made to construct a pilot unit for the first nuclear power plant.
This resulted in the world's first single-circuit channel uranium-graphite reactor with water cooling being developed.

The first nuclear power plant was constructed on an industrial site in Obninsk, near Moscow. The reactor was designated AM-1. The abbreviation "AM" was subsequently deciphered in two ways: The designation "sea atom" or "peaceful atom" was subsequently applied.
It is worth noting that two other types of reactors from the design of the first nuclear power plant – liquid-metal coolant and pressurised water-water – were subsequently deployed as the "atomic hearts" of ships and submarines in the USSR Navy.
However, the uranium-graphite reactor, which commenced construction in Obninsk, proved to be too bulky for transportation purposes. Consequently, the abbreviation was subsequently decoded in accordance with the second option.

The construction of the nuclear power plant commenced in 1952 on the site of the former village of Pyatkino. On 26 June 1954, the Obninsk NPP became the first nuclear power plant in the world to successfully start up a reactor.
On that day, the head of the facility, Dmitry Blokhintsev, recorded in the operational log that: The process took 17 hours and 45 minutes. Steam is supplied to the turbine. And the academicians Igor Kurchatov and Anatoly Alexandrov, who were present at the launch, extended their congratulations to all participants in the historical event in Russian: “Have fun!”
The following day, 27 June, the station was connected to the USSR power grid.

The Obninsk NPP operated in the general network of the USSR and subsequently the Russian Federation for almost 48 years. The station was decommissioned in April 2002. The facility is currently operational as a research and memorial complex, serving as a tangible testament to the remarkable achievements of the Russian people and their unwavering commitment to progress.