PERSPECTIVES ON NUCLEAR POWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

GLOBAL NUCLEAR INFRASTRUCTURE

A. ZRODNIKOV

State Scientific Centre of the Russian Federation, Obninsk, Russian Federation

Email: postbox@ippe.ru Abstract

At the beginning of 2006 the President of the Russian Federation promulgated an initiative inviting the international community to collaborate in the development of the Global Nuclear Infrastructure (GNI) in order to ensure equal access to nuclear energy by all interested countries while ensuring strict observance of non-proliferation obliga-tions. Key elements of the GNI would be international centres that provided services related to the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium enrichment and the management of spent nuclear fuel, as well as training and qualification centres for nuclear energy personnel from developing countries. The paper outlines the ideological basis of the initiative, the approach to the formation of a new technological platform for nuclear power in the Russian Federation, and the use of the GNI to provide an energy supply for globally sustainable development. The issues related to spent fuel management are highlighted.

1. PERSPECTIVES ON NUCLEAR POWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Currently the Russian programme for the development of the energy sector is being revised with the objective of doubling annual electricity output by 2020.

In the Russian Federation, about 50% of the total electricity is generated by burning natural gas, about 18% by burning coal, 16% by nuclear power generation and 16% by hydroelectric power generation. The large share of gas in the total results in a decreasing reliability and stability of power supply for consumers. Further large scale use of gas in the power industry of the Russian Federation is complicated due to the increasing imbalance between the internal consumption and the export of gas. The Russian Federation may face a gas deficiency as early as the first quarter of this century. As a result, there is a need to have new nuclear power plants.

Currently, nuclear power in the Russian Federation is based on thermal reactors — WWER and RBMK types — which use uranium-235 as their main energy resource. The advantages of nuclear power as compared to fossil fuel are the following:

(a) The potential for export of commercial nuclear technologies, including WWER reactors and related technologies of the nuclear fuel cycle;

(b) A weak dependence on the fluctuations of natural uranium market prices;

(c) A negligible level of greenhouse and other hazardous gas releases;

(d) A low demand for transport infrastructure.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages of nuclear power based on thermal reactors using the once-through fuel cycle:

(1) Incomplete utilization of the spent nuclear fuel management cycle;

(2) Unavoidable storage of continually increasing quantities of spent fuel (over 15 000 t of spent nuclear fuel have been accumulated to date, with a rate of accumulation of 800 t/a);

(3) Accumulation and storage of uranium enrichment tailings (the accumu-lation rate is about 4000 t/a);

(4) The need of a large capacity repository for radioactive waste;

(5) The limited resources of uranium-235 (see Fig. 1).

Uranium-235 resources in the Russian Federation are sufficient to achieve 25% of the total electricity generated by nuclear power plants by 2030, but this share would inevitably decrease substantially by the end of the century.

At the same time, there are enormous strategic reserves of uranium-238, the energy potential of which cannot be used with current technology.

FIG. 1. Relative energy potential of natural resources of the Russian Federation.

INITIATIVE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

As can be seen from Fig. 1, the energy potential of the uranium-238 resource is 10 times higher than that of coal and 25 times higher than that of natural gas.

With the objective of ensuring energy security for the Russian Federation, the nuclear power development programme envisions switching, by the middle of the 21st century, to a new technological platform based on the closure of the nuclear fuel cycle using fast reactors and, hence, the use of uranium-238.

The key technological components of innovative nuclear power have already been demonstrated at the commercial level in the Russian Federation:

(i) The BN-600 demonstration fast reactor with sodium coolant continues to operate successfully at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant after 25 years;

(ii) The technology of mixed oxide fuel (MOX) fabrication for fast reactors has also been developed and demonstrated experimentally;

(iii) The technology for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from WWER-440 and BN-600 reactors is being successfully used at the RT-1 reprocessing plant, followed by the use of regenerated uranium in RBMK reactors and the storage of separated plutonium and vitrified radioactive waste.

It is expected that the transition from the present system to the innovative nuclear power system will be achieved in two phases: the preliminary phase (until 2030) and the final phase (2030–2050). During the preliminary phase the increase of nuclear capacity will be fulfilled primarily by the introduction of advanced WWER reactors. During the final phase, a further increase in nuclear capacity will be achieved primarily through the commissioning of commercial fast reactors.

The following steps have to be achieved during the transition period:

(a) Bringing the already demonstrated fast reactor and closed nuclear fuel cycle technologies to a commercial level, including:

— Commissioning the BN-800 fast reactor by 2012 as a pilot facility for utilizing MOX fuel and for testing technologies of the closed nuclear fuel cycle;

— Commissioning a commercial plant for radiochemical reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from thermal reactors;

— Creating a commercial plant for the fabrication of MOX fuel for fast reactors using the plutonium extracted from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel from thermal reactors;

— Designing and constructing a small series (4–5 units) of first generation commercial fast reactors using MOX fuel;

(b) Research and development work to demonstrate an innovative reactor and associated fuel technologies, followed by their commercialization during the final phase of the changeover to innovative nuclear power.

In the future, the International Nuclear Centre will be established, providing services in the nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment of uranium and management of spent fuel. By the end of the transition period, the techno-logical infrastructure for innovative nuclear power will be created in the Russian Federation with the complete closure of the nuclear fuel cycle and the use of uranium-238 as the main raw material resource. In addition, the problems of the management of the spent nuclear fuel from thermal reactors will be resolved.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF