Nuclear power technologies at the stage of sustainable nuclear power development

It is not simple to solve the problem of competitiveness of nuclear power technologies in evolutionary upgrading the conventional nuclear power plants (NPP) such as light water reactors (LWR), which requires high expenditure for safety. Moreover, the existing LWRs cannot provide nuclear power (NP) for a long time (hundreds of years) because the efficiency of use of natural uranium is low and closing the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) for those reactors is not expedient.The highlighted problem can be solved in the way of use of innovative nuclear power technology in which natural uranium power potential is used effectively and the intrinsic conflict between economic and safety requirements has been essentially mitigated.The technology that is most available and practically demonstrated is the use of reactors SVBR-100 — small power multi-purpose modular fast reactors (100 MWe) cooled by lead-bismuth coolant (LBC). This technology has been mastered for nuclear submarines’ reactors in Russia.High technical and economical parameters of the NPP based on RF SVBR-100 are determined from the fact that the potential energy stored in LBC per a volume unit is the lowest.The compactness of the reactor facility SVBR-100 that results from integral arrangement of the primary circuit equipment allows realizing renovation of power-units LWRs, the vessels’ lifetime of which has been expired. So due to this fact, high economical efficiency can be obtained.The paper also validates the economical advantage of launching the uranium-fueled fast reactors with further changeover to the closed NFC with use of plutonium extracted from the own spent nuclear fuel in comparison with launching fast reactors directly with on uranium-plutonium fuel on the basis of plutonium extraction from spent nuclear fuel of LWRs.     

Nuclear power for sustainable development and relevant iaea activities for the future

The credible longer-term energy demand and supply analyses foresee a growing role for nuclear power for sustainable development. For instance the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows an increase between 2000 and 2050 by a factor of 2.5 in global primary energy and the installed nuclear capacity will increase by about a factor of 4–5 as a median value. The technologies for the nuclear energy are continuously improving towards the long-term goals of further improvements in economics, very high levels of safety, increased proliferation resistance, and successful implementation of solutions for radioactive waste disposal. By statute, the IAEA is authorized to encourage and assist the Member States efforts for the practical application of nuclear technology. The Agency's relevant activities are considered to contribute to assist the Member States to achieve their long term goals. This paper overviews the current status of nuclear power in the world, discusses its future prospects and describes the IAEA's activities to support its Member States in their efforts for nuclear programme for sustainable development.     

Nuclear physics and nuclear power

For the example of the Radium Institute, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and has been a part of the Academy of Sciences for around 40 years, it is shown how nuclear physics, as the theoretical basis of the nuclear power industry, facilitates its development and the transition to internally safe and environmentally sound nuclear technology. V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 86, No. 6, pp. 414–419, June, 1999.     

Nuclear power plant site lifetime

The interrelationship between the life cycle of a power-generating unit of a nuclear power plant and the life cycle of the plant site is examined. It is shown that the work performed at the final stage of the life cycle of a power-generating unit must be mutually coordinated with the life cycle of the site and the industry. This work is best viewed as a new investment project organized along the appropriate modern lines. It is recommended that the handling of the radioactive materials produced at all stages of the life cycle of the power-generating unit of a nuclear power plant and the optimal use of the plant site be studied from a different viewpoint-minimizing the cost of storing radioactive materials by converting a substantial portion of these materials into reusable industrial wastes. __________ Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 100, No. 5, pp. 339–349, May, 2006.     

Nuclear power plant commissioning experience

In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of the events related to the commissioning of new nuclear power plants and reported to the IAEA International Reporting System database. These results are extracted from a study performed by the European Clearinghouse on Nuclear Power Plant Operational Feedback about the events related to the construction, the manufacturing and the commissioning of new nuclear power plants.After the initial screening of the database, we have analysed in detail 34 events in order to highlight the lessons learned specific to different components and to raise the general recommendations related to the commissioning.This paper summarizes the main lessons learned and the main recommendations concerning the commissioning-related events. These recommendations concern mainly the time of the testing, the scope of the tests, the documentation of the tests, the test acceptance criteria, the systems reconfiguration after commissioning tests and the management of the temporary devices.