Nuclear power cost is still effective, but one of the biggest challenges for nuclear power now is to maintain the highest standards of safety and at the same time keep the cost reasonable, said Andrey Rozhdestvin, Head of ROSATOM’s regional office for Western Europe (ROSATOM France).
“The global nuclear industry is currently facing a number of challenges which we can overcome through cooperation. The challenges are achieving the highest standards of nuclear safety, keeping the costs reasonable, building nuclear power plants within stipulated time and budget, gaining public support, in particular in the area of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, and decommissioning,” he said, while speaking at the 12th European Nuclear Power Conference held in Brussels on March 23. According to him, ROSATOM is trying to address these challenges by developing new nuclear technologies, not only light-water reactors, but also fast reactors, innovative fuel cycle technologies and ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
“Last year, we commissioned the first Generation III+ reactor (Novovoronezh NPP) and a brand new BN-800 sodium cooled reactor (Beloyarsk NPP). We are implementing a number of nuke plants in and outside Russia and have been demonstrating every day that it is possible to build on time and on budget, that nuclear energy remains profitable even if the highest standards of safety are industrially implemented.”
he said.
Rosatom is implementing the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh. The NPP will have two units, each of 1,200 MW capacity. Generation 3+ nuclear reactor VVER 1,200 has been chosen for the project.
On March 21-23 in 2017, Brussels hosted the First European Power Generation Week, organized by Platts international news agency and supported by ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia. This year, the organizers decided to merge Europe’s two largest industry events, the 8th European Power Summit and the 12th European Nuclear Power Conference, into one three-day event.
