TVEL, Rosatom’s fuel company, said it has won a tender from Brazil’s Electronuclear to supply more than 100kg of lithium-7 hydroxide for the cooling system of Angra nuclear power plant, and after concluding the contract, the products will be delivered by the end of 2023, as planned.
Lithium-7 is an additive used in the primary coolant of pressurised water reactors (PWRs) to maintain water chemistry, counteracting the corrosive effects of boric acid and minimising corrosion in steam generators of PWRs, and it’s also utilized, according to World Nuclear Association’s Lithium Information Paper, in manufacturing chemical reagents for nuclear power engineering, and as a basic component for preparing nuclear grade ion-exchange membranes used in PWR coolant water treatment facilities. The director of the special chemistry business area of TVEL, which is the fuel company part of Russia’s Rosatom, Mikhail Metelkin said that the Novosibirsk Plant of Chemical Concentrates has been specialising in the production of various lithium compounds for over 60 years, and the enterprise operates modern high-tech production, providing a high degree of chemical purity meeting the requirements of customers.
Brazil has two nuclear power reactors at Angra, both PWRs, and is planning for more capacity in the years ahead, including the resumption of work on a third unit at Angra.
