A. V. Nosovskyi
Institute for Safety Problems of NPP, NAS of Ukraine,
12, Lysogirska st., Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine
DOI: doi.org/10.31717/2311-8253.19.3.1
Abstract
The nuclear power plants (NPP), which were built more than forty years ago and are in operation today, demonstrate compliance with modern economic realities and competitiveness. The installed capacity ratios of the NPP have been increased significantly, allowing more electricity to be produced at the same installed capacity. Operating costs for NPP are predictable unlike power plants that burn organic fuel, where volatile fuel prices are a significant part of the cost of produced electricity.
There are many requirements for the nuclear industry — regarding the safety of NPP and the cost of solving safety problems. In recent years, the nuclear industry has significantly increased the safety level of NPP. However, a lot of tasks remain to be done to create simple economic evidence that will convince the community of the competitiveness of nuclear power, which will allow the decision to build new NPP.
The most important factor in the development of nuclear power in a free market of electricity is its competitiveness in comparison with other methods of electricity production.
The main problems of construction of NPP power units are considered in the article. The analysis of the state of nuclear power in the world is given, the main factors holding back the development of nuclear power are shown.
It is shown that the increasing needs for electricity, as well as the economic efficiency and competitiveness of nuclear power compared to other methods of electricity production, are key factors for the construction of new NPP.
International programs aimed at developing new projects to unite the efforts of many countries for the creation of innovative nuclear energy techologies are mentioned in the article. The implementation of these programs will ensure the development of nuclear power systems of fourth generation with high performance, increased cost-effectiveness and safety, which can be put into operation in the coming years.
It is concluded that an important task for the nuclear power industry of Ukraine along with ensuring the operation of NPP units in extra-project terms is a study to justify the optimal choice of promising nuclear installations for the replacement of decommissioning units. Therefore, taking into account current trends in the electricity supply market in the world and Ukraine, one of the ways is to upgrade the fleet of water-water energetic reactor units that exist in Ukraine for perspective, more economical and safer projects of the new generation of reactor plants. And in order to justify the choice of reactor type it is necessary to develop the scientific and technical and economic bases for the optimal choice of prospective nuclear installations.
Keywords: nuclear power, nuclear power plants, construction of new nuclear power units, economic efficiency, safety level, type of reactor installation.
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