"The USSR was not the first country to build an atomic bomb, but it was the first to develop civilian use of nuclear energy – those were the first icebreaker, and the first nuclear power plant, and the first use in medicine," the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko stated recently at a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
In anticipation of the 70th anniversary of the Russian nuclear industry, Putin reminded that "during this time, a lot of things were done for the development of the national economy, for the energy sector, and also for providing defense. The famous strategic parity has been achieved only and largely thanks to two sectors: missile and space and, of course, nuclear."
According to Kiriyenko, the state defense order is now carried out 100%, and this year the civil sector is expected to have record production, which we never had in the whole history of the nuclear industry: "More than 10 billion kilowatt hours are being produced by the nuclear power stations of the country, more electricity than last year, which was also a record year. More than 190 billion kilowatt hours of electricity will be produced."
Kiriyenko said that Rosatom is carrying out the program for the launch of new blocks. The country is building nuclear power stations, which dramatically increases the interest of foreign partners. Last week, the conference of the IAEA ended. Our portfolio of orders already has 30 nuclear reactors in 12 countries. More than 10 projects are in the stage of discussion. This is the largest portfolio of orders in the world. The total portfolio of orders amounts to more than 300 billion dollars.
Russia is commissioning a new generation of technologies of the so-called post-Fukushima type – fast neutron reactors. "We have completed energy launch of the BN-800 at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant in the Sverdlovsk region. A plant of MOX fuel (uranium-plutonium fuel) was put into industrial operation, it was built for the first time in history. Our American partners cannot finish their construction, they have already spent 7.7 billion dollars and now they are stopping construction, there was a report of Congress, because it is unclear how much [funds] will be spent. And we built this plant in 2.5 years, and it cost us about two hundred million dollars, in other words, 9.6 billion rubles. The plant is working, is coming into industrial capacity."
The head of the department of the National Research Centre 'The Kurchatov Institute', Stanislav Subbotin, says that "Russia, in terms of the development of nuclear energy, is a unique country. If the world started to research something, we also began to research it. And if the world, for some political, economic reasons, stopped it, we continued. Our experience is invaluable for the entire world."
According to the expert, a characteristic feature of nuclear energy remains the fact that any capacity is possible. Nuclear energy is valuable because it can provide resources for thousands of years. "A huge number of reactors are being built around the world, despite Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Only a few fast reactors are being built. That is, there will be thermal neutron reactors. But the greatest difficulties will be with economic and political acceptability. A lot of work should be done. It is education, psychology and everything else. All the technical aspects are more or less clear."
