DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR POWER IN RUSSIA AND THE WORLD WITH GENERATION 3+ AND 4 REACTORS
In the development of nuclear power in the world, there are three stages separated by major accidents at nuclear power plants: "Three Mile Island" (USA, 1979), the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (USSR - Ukraine, 1986) and the "Kama-1" nuclear power plant (Japan, 2011). At the first and second stages, until 1990, there was a rapid development of nuclear power, when 20-30 units were introduced per year and their number increased to 391 with a total capacity of 321 GW, followed by a sharp decline, the withdrawal of many units from operation, which reached the deadline of 40 years. So for after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster from 2011 to 2016, taking into account the withdrawn (17 blocks), only 7 blocks and 13 GW of energy were added. As a result, as of 01.12.2016, the total installed capacity of 450 units was 392 GW. At the same time, prices for uranium and gas have decreased, and the latter has led to an increase in the competitiveness of gas thermal power plants (CCGT with an efficiency of up to 55-65 %). The share of world electricity production at nuclear power plants fell from 17.6 % (1995) to 10.7 % (2015). To improve the nuclear power plant's economy, it was necessary to significantly increase the level of safety while simplifying and reducing the cost of the actual projects, first of all, the reactor compartment (nuclear island-Yao), the cost of power unit equipment, construction and installation on site, and reducing operating costs. As a result, "Generation -3+" reactors were developed and are already being built: Westinghouse (USA) AR-1000, ARR-1400 (Korea), boiling-GeneralElectric (USA) ESBWR- 1650, Areva (France) EPR (1600 mw), in Russia Rosatom - NPP-2006 (1200 mw) and VVER-TOI (1250 MW). The paper presents the results of comparing the economic efficiency of these projects. In January 2000, at the initiative of the US Department of energy, the "generation IV international forum" (MFP-4) program was launched, the goal of the program was to identify the main areas of R & d for the development of promising 4th-generation nuclear power plants. As a result of the evaluation carried out by a group of leading experts in nuclear energy, six basic concepts of nuclear power plants were selected. In this paper, only three of them are considered: these are reactors cooled with sodium (SFR-BN), lead (LFR-BR), and supercritical pressure water (SCWR-VVER-SKD). SCWR reactors have been most developed abroad. In a number of countries, conceptual projects have been implemented showing the economic efficiency of these reactors by 20-40 % compared to the "P. 3+" reactors. In Russia, in order not to depend on fluctuations in uranium prices, to reduce problems with the storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and the implementation of a closed fuel cycle in the nuclear power industry, BN and BR reactors are being actively developed.