Glebov A.P.
A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
In the development of nuclear power in the world, there are three stages separated by major accidents
at nuclear power plants: "Three Mile Island" (USA, 1979), the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
(USSR – Ukraine, 1986) and the "Kama-1" nuclear power plant (Japan, 2011).
At the first and second stages, until 1990, there was a rapid development of nuclear power, when
20-30 units were introduced per year and their number increased to 391 with a total capacity of
321 GW, followed by a sharp decline, the withdrawal of many units from operation, which reached the
deadline of 40 years. So for after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster from 2011 to 2016, taking into account the withdrawn
(17 blocks), only 7 blocks and 13 GW of energy were added. As a result, as of 01.12.2016, the
total installed capacity of 450 units was 392 GW.
At the same time, prices for uranium and gas have decreased, and the latter has led to an increase in
the competitiveness of gas thermal power plants (CCGT with an efficiency of up to 55-65 %).
The share of world electricity production at nuclear power plants fell from 17.6 % (1995) to 10.7 %
(2015). To improve the nuclear power plant's economy, it was necessary to significantly increase the
level of safety while simplifying and reducing the cost of the actual projects, first of all, the reactor compartment
(nuclear island-Yao), the cost of power unit equipment, construction and installation on site,
and reducing operating costs. As a result, "Generation -3+" reactors were developed and are already
being built: Westinghouse (USA) AR-1000, ARR-1400 (Korea), boiling-GeneralElectric (USA) ESBWR-
1650, Areva (France) EPR (1600 mw), in Russia Rosatom – NPP-2006 (1200 MW) and VVER-TOI
(1250 MW). The paper presents the results of comparing the economic efficiency of these projects.
In January 2000, at the initiative of the US Department of energy, the "generation IV international
forum" (MFP-4) program was launched, the goal of the program was to identify the main areas of
R & d for the development of promising 4th-generation nuclear power plants. As a result of the evaluation
carried out by a group of leading experts in nuclear energy, six basic concepts of nuclear
power plants were selected. In this paper, only three of them are considered: these are reactors
cooled with sodium (SFR-BN), lead (LFR-BR), and supercritical pressure water (SCWR-VVER-SKD).
SCWR reactors have been most developed abroad. In a number of countries, conceptual projects
have been implemented showing the economic efficiency of these reactors by 20-40 % compared to
the "P. 3+" reactors. In Russia, in order not to depend on fluctuations in uranium prices, to reduce
problems with the storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and the implementation of a closed fuel cycle in
the nuclear power industry, BN and BR reactors are being actively developed.
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