Currently, Rosatom is faced with the challenge of increasing the share of NPP output in Russia’s overall energy balance to 25% by 2035. “However, it will surprise no one if one-third of electricity in the second half of this century will be produced using nuclear energy,” Mr. Likhachev said.
The use of diversified nuclear reactors of different power levels will also be an important trend. “The scale of nuclear power plants will be diversified: in addition to million-watt plants, there will also be those with a capacity of 1,000 MW, 400 MW or 500 MW,” Mr. Likhachev noted.
An equally important challenge for the medium term of 2050–2060 will be the disposal and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. “We’ll begin using nuclear reactors in a new way, and we will not only burn but also reuse nuclear fuel. Essentially, we will move spent fuel within fuel circuits multiple times. This is a super idea, a sort of perpetual motion machine,” Mr. Likhachev added.
In the near future, a unique innovative project using fast neutron technologies under the title Proryv (ENG: Breakthrough), will introduce a type of NPP, which will soon become accepted and widespread. Today, Proryv is represented by a unique power unit, the only fourth-generation power unit in the world that has a fast neutron reactor with lead coolant BREST-OD-300, a module for the production of uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel and a module for reprocessing irradiated fuel.
Finally, the development of thermonuclear fusion technologies is going to accelerate. “By 2050, thermonuclear fusion, still economically unattractive but already viable commercially, will become available in one of those countries, preferably in Russia,” Rosatom CEO added.
