| Abstract: | The current state of nuclear power engineering is described. It is shown that this industry is still at the initial stage in general industrial use in spite of experimental evidence accumulated for more than half a century. It has not even attained the stage of establishment, which would enable one to utilize all the power facilities concealed in it. The long-term future of nuclear power involves a closed fuel cycle including the recycling of fuel from extended breeding of fissile materials, which supports the safe treatment of radioactive wastes. Nuclear power has no alternatives over millennia, and any groups opposed to its extension and companies within the country that strive to delay its development by not providing facilities for the latter in essence have started on a road involving marked difficulty for our civilization. Bochvar All-Russia New Materials Research Institute, Russian Federation State Scientific Center. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 86, No. 2, pp. 83–94, February, 1999. |
