Bicomponent Nuclear Power

Prospects and problems of the development of modern nuclear power, as well as ways to solve them are analyzed in this article, which was prepared on the basis of a report at the General Meeting of RAS members on December 8, 2020. In late 2018, the Presidium of Rosatom’s Scientific and Technical Council approved the Strategy for the Development of Nuclear Power, which envisages reaching an NPP capacity in the range of 70–90 GW by the end of the century. The strategy assumes that by the middle of the century, nuclear power will become bicomponent: along with the technologies of the existing nuclear power, which currently uses an open nuclear fuel cycle and thermal neutron reactors, a new branch of nuclear power will be created on the basis of fast reactors with a closed nuclear fuel cycle. Its development will make it possible to reduce the accumulation of spent nuclear fuel, reduce the volume of radioactive waste, increase the efficiency of the use of uranium raw materials and environmental indicators, and maintain the competitiveness of nuclear energy in comparison with other generations.