by Marina KHALIZEVA, journalist

In June of 2013 in St. Petersburg within the framework of the 5th International Industrial Forum Atomexpo, sponsored by the Rosatom State Corporation, a discussion was held on topical problems of atomic energy development, safe use of nuclear energy technologies, cooperation in a fuel cycle and training of highly-qualified personnel for the industry. Its participants, more than 200 experts and specialists, represented leading companies in the world energy market and organizations of 42 states including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, China, Japan, the USA and others.

Founded five years ago as an annual event, the forum became at once a central communication ground where a strategy of the world atomic industry and its key priorities are announced. First such forums were held in Moscow but this time the sponsors changed the tradition and shifted the center of gravity of energy discussions to St. Petersburg as a cradle of Russian atomic science and industry. Here in the 1920s Academician Vladimir Vernadsky* founded the Radium Institute, where in the 1930s Academician Abram

* See: O. Yanitsky, "Vladimir Vernadsky: Politician, Historian, Public Figure", Science in Russia, No. 2, 2013.--Ed.

Opening ceremony of the 5th International Industrial Forum ATOMEXPO at Mikhailovsky Manege, the oldest exhibition complex in St. Petersburg.

Ioffe* formed his famous physical school and the future head of the Soviet atomic project Igor Kurchatov** and his immediate supporter Yuly Khariton*** began their career. It was here that the first in the world atomic icebreaker Lenin was launched at the Baltiysky shipbuilding company in 1956, and the first offshore nuclear thermal power plant Akademik Lomonosov**** is under construction today.

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

The plenary session "Atomic Power Engineering in the 21st Century: responsible partnership for sustained development" held at the Palace-Theater, the oldest cultural institution of St. Petersburg, on the first day of the forum attracted an unprecedented number of foreign experts, heads of global companies and scientists involved in the discussion of development patterns and forecast of technological trends in the nuclear sphere. It should be admitted that the audience was not unanimous. Still, the major part of the participants (34 percent according to interactive voting) believes that the future of atomic power engineering is connected with a promising technology of fast-neutron reactors as it allows expansion of a fuel base, using not only rare

*See: B. Dyakov, "Fiztekh: a Multidimensional View", Science in Russia, No. 3, 2003.-Ed.

**See: Ye. Velikhov, "Pride of Russian Science"; V. Sidorenko, "Pioneer of Soviet Atomic Power Engineering"; Yu. Sivintsev, "A Few Unforgettable Meetings"; R. Kuznetsova, V. Popov, "Scientific Heritage of Academician Kurchatov", Science in Russia, No. 6, 2012.--Ed.

*** See: A. Vodopshin, "On a Visit to Khariton", Science in Russia, No. 5, 2009.-Ed.

**** See: M. Khalizeva, "Electricity and Heat: Delivery to the Consumer", Science in Russia, No. 4, 2013.--Ed.

enough ²³⁵U in serial reactors but the whole uranium available in nature and also production of a secondary fuel for application in other facilities thus closing the nuclear fuel cycle. Moreover, always indispensable will be water-cooled slow-neutron reactors, which hold a liberal share in the total world energy balance for more than 50 years. But the leading forecasters did not oppose these two kinds of innovative and classical atomic power engineering. The follow-up program of the forum which included the symposium "Pressing Problems of the International Nuclear Law" and 9 panel discussions conducted at the Mikhailovsky Manege, the oldest exhibition complex of St. Petersburg, just confirmed validity of the horizons defined by the experts.

ATOMIC GENERATION WILL GROW UP

At one of the first sessions of the panel discussion dealing with an integrated approach to the development of atomic power engineering the forum participants advanced an opinion that today, more than two years after the Fukushima-1 accident, to the foreground came not so much calculations of the losses (by that time it had been managed to upgrade the base technology and protection control systems) as the growth prospects of nuclear generation.

The specialists stressed that the evidence of this tendency was apparent. For example, in Russia, not only in professional but also in political groups, the belief is growing that an increase in the share of atomic power engineering in the total energy balance of the country is extremely important for the development of high-technology industries and growth of economy. Today 33

atomic units operate at the national atomic power stations which produce more than 16 percent of the whole electrical power in the country. The Rosatom plans supported by the state envisage bringing of this share to 30 percent by 2030, and their implementation raises no doubts. Now the Rosatom portfolio of orders includes 28 atomic power station units at different stages of construction. Nine of them are located in our country (two units at Novovoronezh, Leningrad and Rostov atomic power stations each and one unit at Kalinin, Beloyarsk and Rostov atomic power stations each) and 19 units abroad. But according to Director General of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko these figures will grow despite the post-Fukushima syndrome, as in the near 15-20 years the corporation intends to get more than 20 percent of the world market in construction of atomic power stations.

Dzhomart Aliev, speaker of the panel discussion "Integrated Approach to the Development of Atomic Power Engineering" and Director General of Rosatom Overseas company created for promotion of national nuclear technologies abroad, forecasts the world growth of atomic energy generation by 1.5 times under the annual average rate of 2.5 percent by 2030. According to his estimates the energy positions will be strengthened primarily in such countries as China and also countries of the Middle East, Africa and South America. Besides, he considers the market of low- and medium-power atomic reactors promising. He added that Russia was ready to satisfy the world demand for their construction at the expense of competitive prices.

GROWING DEMAND FOR MODULAR STATIONS

According to the classification of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reactors with up to 300 MW capacity are referred to low-power reactors. But today it is not a quantity index but their special, modular design that arouses interest of customers. Usually, such units have an active region steam generator, a pressure compensator and other equipment in one frame--a monoblock. It is manufactured at a plant and delivered assembled to the platform, then upon completion of its service life is substituted by another monoblock and sent for utilization. A compact-size reactor has an extended interval between refueling, and in some designs fuel is loaded for a whole life cycle. Besides, fuel assemblies have uranium-235 enrichment up to 20 percent, which corresponds to the IAEA requirements for limitation of nuclear weapons proliferation.

According to specialists such stations can change life quality in any point of the world because their main task is to supply energy and heat to cities remote from central electrical systems, large-scale industrial enterprises, gas and oil platforms in the open sea. Moreover, they can be used for sea water demineralization, hydrogen production and other technological purposes.

The forum participants admitted that today demand for self-contained power supply sources was great as never before. According to Rosatom forecasts the world volume of installed capacities of reactors of such type will reach 46.5 GW by 2030. In this context the main customers will be countries for whom development of large-scale atomic power engineering based on reactors of 1,000 MW and more capacity is an impermissible luxury, such as the states of Latin America, Africa and Asia. In Russia we can name the regions of the Far North and Far East not integrated into the single electric power system of the country and also power-consuming industries at major sites of the mining industry.

More than 10 companies in different countries (the USA, France, Great Britain, China and South Korea) already have projects of low-power reactors and can proceed to construction in the near future. But in the opinion of competent authorities the maximum volume of research and development work is concentrated in Russia. In his detailed presentation of growth prospects of low-power reactors at the forum, the partner of the German consulting agency Roland Berger Strategy Consultants Hans Joachim Kopp stressed that it was just Rosatom possessing a number of commercially mature technologies of low-power atomic power stations that could get a weighty share of the future market.

As the abovementioned Dzhomart Aliev mentioned at the forum, the first operating low-power atomic power stations would appear in the world already by 2020, most likely, not abroad but in Russia. It will introduce to the market a 100 MW plant based on the technology of the SVBR-100 fast-neutron lead-bismuth reactor designed at the Gidropress Experimental Design Bureau (Podolsk, Moscow Region). Moreover, the project to be realized, apart from Rosatom, by AKME-Engineering and Irkutskenergo power generation & coal-mining company on a parity basis, implies not only development and commissioning of a pilot production power unit but also large-scale manufacture of this equipment. The physical and energy supply start-up of the plant is scheduled for 2018 in the city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, and in 2019-2020 large-scale output of such stations with their possible arrangement on the basis of several reactors of 100 to 600 MW capacity. Modules will be manufactured in factory conditions and delivered to the place

of installation by rail or motor transport, which will essentially reduce labor costs and construction time. According to the Rosatom specialists, the SVBR-100 can become the first in the world commercial reactor of the fourth generation with a heavy metal heat carrying agent and occupy 10-15 percent of the future world market of low-power atomic power stations.

TECHNOLOGY OF WMWC REACTOR STILL IN FASHION

The immediate prospects of development of Russian large-scale atomic power engineering will be based on the technology of high-power water-mode rated watercooled reactors (i.e. WER). Developed already in the mid-1960s, they present today the major trend in nuclear power plants in our country. The power units of atomic power stations alone equipped with WER-1,000 have a total operating time over 130 reactor-years, and during this time the main technical characteristics, reliability and safety of systems and equipment were confirmed. The innovative water-moderated water-cooled plants of a new generation were considered during a round-table discussion by specialists of St. Petersburg Atomenergoproekt Research and Development Institute, Gidropress Experimental Design Bureau, the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" (Moscow) and other organizations.

In the opinion of specialists, the development peak of the WER technology currently is a WER-TOI project, a standard optimized informatization power unit, with an electric capacity of up to 1,250-1,300 MW, completed in 2012. Alexander Sharipov, a representative of the general designer and manager of the Moscow Planning and Design Branch of Atomenergoproekt explained the difference between the new reactor and its predecessors.

He also mentioned that the abbreviation TOI comprised three main principles forming the basis of the design of the atomic power station: typification of decisions taken, optimization of WER technico-economical indicators and information component. All this together provides substantial reduction of the construction time of the atomic power station (up to 40 months against 6-7 years under "previous" projects) and the cost of the power unit. The price of WER-TOI will be by 16-20 percent less than the existing plant WER-1,200. The reactor can withstand an earthquake of magnitude up to 9 and even a 400 t aircraft crash. Due to combination of different safety systems, its active region will preserve its integrity for 72 hours in case of a serious accident, while new engineering solutions guarantee transition of the plant to a safe state under any unfavorable scenarios including those causing loss of all electric power supply sources.

It is intended to realize a pilot project of the WER modified technology in construction of the Kursk APS-2 and also the Akkuyu APS in Turkey, and similar power units will be installed at two new sites of Smolensk and Nizhni Novgorod stations.

Russia is ready to satisfy the growing demand for medium-power reactors in the world market, which are optimal for countries with developing electric power systems. According to Mikhail Nikitenko, deputy chief designer of Gidropress, the plants WER-600 and WER-640 developed at his design office are rather promising in this context. He stressed that the latter model solved a major economic task, i.e. the price of kilowatt-hour of electric power was comparable to the cost of electric power produced by high-power stations. Besides, the process solutions are fully based on passive safety systems, and their operation is conditioned only by laws of physics and not by actions of equipment or an operator. He also added that in case of necessity the project WER-640 could be updated for 1.5 years, just the time when it could be brought into compliance with the effective normative base and recent engineering solutions as to the modernized atomic power stations.

MULTIPURPOSE RESEARCH REACTOR

At the Atomexpo forum Russia, the USA and France signed a memorandum on using potentials of a unique multipurpose fast-neutron research reactor (MFRR) of 150 MW capacity. It will be constructed in 2019 at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) in Dimitrovgrad of the Ulyanovsk Region to replace the fast-neutron pilot reactor BOR-60 installed in 1969 and now working out its extended resource. After commissioning MFRR will be the most powerful research plant in the world.

According to IEAE today ~240 reactors are in operation on the planet, which are designed for fundamental and applied research in the nuclear sphere. Most of them are in Russia (62) followed by the USA (54), Japan (18), France (15), Germany (14), China (13) and Czech Republic (2). According to experts, a sodium heat carrying agent is multipurpose and efficient among similar plants. It is just such reactor which will be commissioned in Dimitrovgrad and used for nuclear fuel tests, experiments in materials science and radiochemical studies related to a closed fuel cycle. Besides, it can become a center of a collective use with wide international participation, which is confirmed by the signed memorandum.

The chief engineer of RIAR Mikhail Svyatkin told in an interview to the Strana Rosatom newspaper: "The

idea of MFRR is to combine dissimilar elements, i.e. to take the design and concept of a BOR-60 fuel compartment and insert loop passages used in the MIR reactor* for creation of cooling circuits envisaged by the Generation IV** project." It has three cells with data out to the cover plate of a device for studies of radiation processes on a real-time basis. Besides, it has an increased number of isotope and materialogical assemblies, which raise the power of the innovation plant 2-2.5 times as compared with BOR-60.

The method of cooperation of international research teams is a point of today's discussion. Svyatkin clarified his statement: "Participation of each country is based on different principles: bilateral cooperation, interstate structure, etc. Different shares are determined for each country. According to this scheme, for example, Czech Republic has 2 percent share in the MFRR project. It means that for the time of its existence, this country can aspire to experiments equivalent to the cost of its contribution. Some countries replenish the common fund with money, and others with equipment." RIAR experts assure that by 2019, when the experimental plants are installed, the research program will be approved.

RADIOACTIVE WASTES: LEGAL ASPECTS OF DISPOSAL

Safe handling of radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel constitute a problem which affects largely the scale and dynamics of development of atomic power engineering and further introduction of nuclear technologies into day-to-day practice. That is why an event devoted to this problem is included annually in the Atomexpo program. This time the panel discussion "Withdrawal from Operation and Handling of Spent Nuclear Fuel: Current Tasks and Prospects" was held at the forum. The following participants took part in the discussion: Rosatom State Corporation, German Atomic Forum, NUKEM Technologies (Germany), EDF Company (France), Tokyo Energy Company (Japan), Agency for Nuclear Energy of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and also World Nuclear Association.

We would like to remind you that according to IAEA more than 300,0001 of spent nuclear fuel are already accumulated in the world, and every year another 10,000 t are

* MIR--a thermal heterogeneous moderated reactor with a metal beryllium reflector constructed at RIAR more than 40 years ago to test trial fuel elements and structural materials of transport and nuclearpower plants operating in different media (gas, water, liquid metals, organic compounds). Its main feature is 11 loop experimental passages connected to self-contained units with different types of coolants.--Ed.

** Generation IV--innovational nuclear systems of the fourth generation, which meet four basic requirements, i.e. sustained development, competitiveness on a commercial scale, safety (reliability) and protection from unauthorized nuclear weapons proliferation.--Ed.

unloaded from 442 reactors of the total power ~370 GW, operating on the planet. But less than 2,000 t of wastes go into processing, mainly to France and Russia, annually. Most countries play a waiting game and store spent nuclear fuel at special areas, which needs particular protective measures.

But lately new problems arose with handling of radioactive wastes, which are related to exhaustion of service life and decommissioning of civil and military nuclear power plants created in the 1960s-1970s. The panel discussion participants admitted that in 10 years approximately 300 units in the countries in possession of atomic power stations would be dismantled. Processing of such volumes of resulting radioactive wastes and their burial in the light of safety requirements present a serious problem for the contemporary generation of people. But there is no point in exaggeration. The quantity of radioactive wastes as compared to other technogenic wastes is insignificant: according to expert estimates their annual volume is ~0.5 percent of the value of all industrial wastes. Besides, nuclear power engineering is perhaps the only industry which focuses sufficient attention on this important problem.

In 2011 the Federal law "On Handling of Radioactive Wastes" was adopted in our country, which changed essentially the situation in this sphere. Igor Linge, a representative of the expert fellowship and deputy director of the Moscow Institute of Safe Development of Atomic Power-Engineering noted in his comments to this document: "Formerly enterprises constructed storage facilities, whose service life did not correspond to the time of potential danger caused by wastes. The further fate of these wastes was ambiguous. Incompleteness of the cycle related to radioactive wastes in normative, technological and infrastructural aspects led to the situation when enterprises did not have stimuli for processing of radioactive wastes and their burial. Now all will be different. The law is a requirement for a complete cycle of handling radioactive wastes, including their treatment, preparation for burial and payment for burial. The principle 'pay and forget' is being realized for the producer. But heretofore radioactive wastes should be brought to a state fit for burial. A national operator will be in charge of burial. His main task will be creation of storage points, reception of radioactive wastes for storage and securing protection of storage points for a prolonged period of time."

According to Rosatom representatives, all infrastructure necessary for treatment of irradiated materials will be created in our country in 2025. Besides, as per the long-term plans, it is intended to complete works on safe isolation of 550 mln t of radioactive wastes, 22,000 t of

spent nuclear fuel and decommissioning of thousands of objects using atomic power.

Specialists of the European Nuclear Society and the World Nuclear Organization presented their approaches to problems of withdrawal from service and handling of radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES IN NON-NUCLEAR SPHERES

An international exhibition turned out to be first by attendance among the Atomexpo events. This year more than 100 leading national and foreign enterprises of atomic industry and their partners from other industries demonstrated their achievements at the Mikhailovsky Manege. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano and Director General of Rosatom State Corporation Sergei Kiriyenko were the first to assess innovation works. The foreign guest was extremely surprised by the scale of application of technologies of atomic power engineering in contiguous spheres, first of all, in medicine, transport, food and cosmetic industries, production of materials for modification of their properties, geological prospecting and other fields. It is remarkable that the demand for radiation technologies in non-nuclear fields is growing steadily, mainly at the expense of developing countries, in particular from the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, Republic of South Africa), which face intensive development of industry, increase in expenses on high-tech medicine with application of nuclear studies, which can change quality of life.

Illustrations from the site of the 5th International Industrial Forum Atomexpo and the electronic edition Atom Info. Ru (Photo by I. Balakin)