EDN: CAFSPD
Authors & Affiliations
Kochetkov L.A., Frolov Yu.V.
A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
Kochetkov L.A. – General Director Advisor.
Frolov Yu.V. – Head of Department. Contacts: 1, pl. Bondarenko, Obninsk, Kaluga region, 249033. Tel.: +7 (484) 399-85-96; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Abstract
This article is a continuation of the material published in VANT. Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants journal No. 1 in 2023. In the published part of the article, one of the episodes of the history of the Soviet atomic project was revealed, how in Laboratory “B” (that was a name of the Institute for Physics and Power Engineering until 1960) as a result of the search for ways to develop nuclear energy, the reactor plant, originally conceived as a ship reactor, was implemented as the world's first nuclear power plant. This part of the article briefly tells the story of almost dramatic events that took place immediately after the start of the nuclear power plant, when a month after the start of operation, the mistakes made in the design and construction became clear, and the question arose “What to do with the nuclear power plant reactor?”. How the heads of the Laboratory “B” and E.P. Slavsky did everything to The Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry at its meeting decided to continue the operation of the nuclear power plant. The second theme of this article is how an almost ingenious solution was found: use a nuclear power plant, design and capacity of which were not outstanding even by the standards of that time, to achieve outstanding results in the foreign policy activities of the USSR government. The First nuclear power plant became the bright illustration of that how against the backdrop of the uncontrollable arms race that was gaining momentum, the country that has not yet recovered from the worst war not only created nuclear deterrence weapons, but also offered the world an alternative that has become a real example of the creative use of atomic energy.
Keywords
atomic energy, the world's first nuclear power plant, controlled chain reaction, the fuel element, reactor core, uranium
Article Text (PDF, in Russian)
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UDC 621.039
Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants, 2024, no. 2, 2:1
