Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has launched the first block of high-performance 9+ generation gas centrifuges at the Isotope Separation Plant of the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk.
The facility, part of Rosatom’s Nuclear Fuel Division, is now the third of the corporation’s four uranium-enrichment enterprises to adopt the advanced 9+ centrifuge technology.
The modernization project is a key component of Rosatom’s wider upgrade of its sublimate-separation complex.
The program aims to gradually replace older centrifuge systems with modern, more efficient machines. According to the company, the commissioning of additional centrifuges in Seversk will continue from 2025 through 2027.
Natalia Nikipelova, President of TVEL—the managing company of Rosatom’s Fuel Division—highlighted the corporation’s long-term commitment to modernization. “Rosatom’s Fuel Division has been fulfilling a record-high production program for several years in a row,” she said.
“At the same time, we are steadily implementing large-scale modernization projects at all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Rosatom has already invested heavily in upgrading nuclear fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment and conversion facilities, as well as the production of gas centrifuges for isotope separation.”
Uranium enrichment, essential for producing nuclear fuel, increases the concentration of the fissile isotope Uranium-235 (U-235). Natural uranium contains too little U-235 to sustain a nuclear chain reaction, making enrichment necessary for power generation.
High-speed gas centrifuges are critical to this process, enabling the separation of U-235 from the more abundant Uranium-238.