Fuel and energy complex of France. Nuclear energy in France Number of nuclear power plants in France

The disaster at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 will force many countries to reconsider their energy strategy, and maybe even abandon nuclear energy. Today, 30 countries use the energy of uranium and plutonium atoms in the world. For some of them, like France and Finland, this is a priority source of energy. Below is a selection of infographics, diagrams and maps dedicated to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, as well as information about nuclear power plants around the world.

Infographics: Design of a nuclear power plant. Source: RIA Novosti.

Schematic illustration of the operation of a reactor at a nuclear power plant located near the ocean. One of such nuclear power plants is the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1, where the disaster occurred.

How many energy resources are needed to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for a year?
During the year, she will spend: 0.1 kW * 8760 hours per year = 876 kilowatt-hour (kW/h).

To do this you need (optional):
714 pounds or 323 kilograms of coal
0.035 lb or 15.8 grams of uranium
2 hours and 20 minutes for a 1 MW wind farm turbine operating at 25% utilization.
8 days and 18 hours for solar panels with an area of ​​100 square meters. meters.
2 hours and 35 minutes for a 339 kW turbine hydroelectric power plant operating at 80% efficiency and assuming that 500 cubic feet or 14 cubic meters of water falls from a height of 10 feet or 3 meters every second.

Infographics: Disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Source: Itar-Tass based on materials from Reuters.

Infographics: Disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant and map of the evacuation of the population living near the nuclear power plant. Source: Reuters

Infographic: Levels of dangerous radiation. The levels of radiation we are exposed to every day and the levels that can become dangerous to us. According to the National Post.

Map: Nuclear power plants of the world for 2009. Compiled by: D. V. Zayats, Ph.D. geographical sciences.

Map of the location of nuclear reactors in the world. There are 442 operating reactors in the world. The installation of another 287 is planned for the coming years. Source: International Energy Agency

Map of nuclear power plants in France and nuclear power plant capacity. Compiled by: D. V. Zayats, Ph.D. geographical sciences.

Map of the location of nuclear power plants in Germany

Map of the location of nuclear power plants in Germany, combined with a seismicity map.

With a fleet of 58 reactors, more than 75% of the electricity generated in France comes from nuclear power plants. .

1. History of French civil nuclear energy

The Commissariat for Atomic Energy (CEA) was created in October 1945 to carry out scientific and technological developments in view of the use of atomic energy in various branches of science, industry and national defense. The AEC immediately began the construction of several research reactors, the first of which was the EPZ plant, which was put into operation at Fort-de-Châtillon (now the Fontenay-aux-Roses research center) in the suburbs of Paris on December 15, 1948.

In 1956, the G1 reactor, the first French reactor to produce electricity, was put into operation at Marcoule, with a capacity of 40 MW. Two more reactors, G2 and G3, appear in 1959 and 1960. They are designed to test uranium-graphite-gas technology (UNGG), the type of reactor chosen by France to equip its nuclear power plants.

Chinon Nuclear Power Plant

Following the construction of reactors at the Marcoule site, France continued to develop UNGG reactors at the Chinon (1963, 1965 and 1966), Saint-Laurent-des-Hauts (1969 and 1971) and Buget (1972) sites, although starting in 1962, the AEC began construction of an experimental nuclear heavy-water reactor, cooled by carbon dioxide, with a capacity of 70 MW; it was connected to the grid in 1967.

All of these reactors were eventually shut down and decommissioning and rehabilitation work is currently underway. In connection with the oil crisis of the early 1970s, France decided on a massive transition to nuclear energy and began an ambitious program to build nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are of a standardized nature and are based on REP water-water technology developed in the USA.

Currently, the installed capacity of the nuclear power plant fleet is 63 GW, it consists of 58 pressurized water reactors (REP), owned by the Electricite de France (EDF) group of companies, which are located at 19 industrial sites (34 units with a capacity of 900 MW, 20 units with a capacity of 1,300 MW and 4 N4 units with a capacity of 1,500 MW). The last nuclear unit N4 with a capacity of 1,450 MW of electrical power in Sivo was connected to the grid in December 1999 and put into operation in April 2002.

NPP Sivo

In 2014, the average age of operating French nuclear power plants is 28 years (counting from the moment they were put into commercial operation).

The law defining the directions of French energy policy was adopted on July 13, 2005; it confirms the choice in favor of nuclear energy as the main source of electricity in France, even if France encourages the diversification of electricity production based on renewable sources (wind energy-biomass). The share of nuclear energy in France's energy balance is approximately 75%.

Currently, a draft law on “Planning the transition to a new energy balance” is being developed; it could be submitted to Parliament at the end of 2014 or by the beginning of 2015. This draft law will set the direction of French energy policy for the coming years and reaffirm the importance of nuclear energy and renewable energy sources in the French energy mix.

A third of all nuclear power plants currently in operation will expire by 2020; In order to renew its nuclear power plant fleet, France is preparing to deploy new generations of reactors that meet the requirements of economic competitiveness, environmental protection and increased nuclear safety. In April 2007, France began construction of a third-generation EPR reactor in Flamanville/Channel, with commercial operation scheduled for 2016.

Estimated appearance of the ASTRID reactor

France is also implementing research programs on fourth-generation reactor technology with a view to deploying it by 2040. A prototype of such a reactor, called ASTRID, is currently being researched under the 2006 law on radioactive waste management; the prototype is planned to be ready for operation in the early 2020s.

The choice of nuclear energy is due to several reasons: it allows France to ensure its energy independence (France imports less than 50% of its energy resources), environmental protection (France is the European country that produces the least amount of greenhouse gases) and competitive and stable costs of electricity.

2. Operating nuclear power plants

Location of French nuclear power plants

The service life of 58 reactors located at 19 similar industrial sites, which are built to remain in operation for at least 40 years, guarantees efficient, safe, and not burdened by greenhouse gases, electricity production.

3. Nuclear power plants in the process of decommissioning

The following nuclear power plants have one or more reactors that are no longer in operation and are in the process of being decommissioned:

4. Nuclear safety

Nuclear safety is a set of technical measures aimed at preventing accidents, which are carried out at all stages, from design to decommissioning of nuclear installations, including the transportation of radioactive materials.

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority ASN, an independent administrative body created in 2006 to promote transparency and nuclear safety, oversees the French civil nuclear industry; he is entrusted with the labor protection of industry workers, the health of patients who have to resort to x-ray therapy, and the protection of society and the natural environment from the risks associated with the use of nuclear energy.

The Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety ISRN carries out state expertise in the field of studying nuclear and radiation risks.

At the request of the Prime Minister, ASN conducted an In-depth Nuclear Safety Review (ECS) in France in 2011 following the Fukushima accident. The results of the ECS on priority nuclear installations resulted in a report published in January 2012, according to which the analyzed installations provide an adequate level of safety and do not require immediate shutdown. At the same time, ASN believes that if they continue to be used, it will be necessary to quickly increase, beyond their existing safety margins, their resistance to extreme situations.

5. Radioactive waste management

ANDRA, the State Agency for Radioactive Waste Management, is tasked with the long-term management of radioactive waste generated in France. As part of this mission, ANDRA puts its knowledge and skills at the service of the state in order to find, implement and guarantee sustainable solutions for all radioactive waste of French origin, in order to protect current and future generations from the dangers posed by these wastes.

ANDRA has been recording the presence of nuclear waste in France since 1991 and has published a “geographical inventory” of this waste since 2004. The agency's tasks also include determining the volume of radioactive waste for circulation in 10 years, 20 years or more.

Location of ANDRA facilities

Radioactive waste is classified depending on the intensity of radioactive radiation and the period of radioactivity. The nuclear watchdog ASN distinguishes between very short-lived waste (radioactivity halved in less than 150 days), short-lived waste (radioactivity halved in less than 30 years) and long-lived waste (radioactivity halved after more than 30 years). The 58 rectifiers available in France produce 1 kg of radioactive waste per inhabitant per year, of which about 900 g is low- and mid-level short-lived waste, 90 g is intermediate-level long-lived waste and 10 g is high-level waste. 96% of radioactivity is contained in less than 1% of waste.

These nuclear wastes are managed depending on their category, in compliance with nuclear safety and radiation protection within the framework of the law of June 28, 2006 on the long-term management of radioactive materials and waste.

It should be noted that France is one of the few countries that have on its territory all nuclear fuel cycle facilities, including conversion, enrichment, production, reprocessing and reuse of nuclear materials. France is a world leader in monitoring the nuclear safety of the nuclear fuel cycle.

Until the early 1950s. The country was characterized by a coal balance: the share of coal in total primary energy consumption reached 80%1. After the Second World War, due to the growing demand for energy in the context of accelerated economic development and a decrease in coal production, there was an increase in the use of oil and petroleum products. As a result, in the early 1970s. Oil accounted for about 70% of the country's primary energy consumption.

After the energy crises of the 1970s. There was an increase in the share of electricity and gas in primary energy consumption, while the importance of oil decreased significantly. In recent years, there has been an increase in the role of renewable energy sources (see Table 1).

About 30% of national energy consumption is for transport (over the past 40 years it has almost doubled and reached 48.8 million tons of oil equivalent in 2014), 28% for the residential sector. Volumes of energy consumption by industry in 1973-2014 decreased by almost 1.7 times, primarily due to the decline in ferrous metallurgy (see Table 2).

In the early 1970s. The main sources of energy for industry were oil and coal; now it consumes mainly gas and electricity 3 (30% of total energy consumption by the industrial sector). The share of coal, oil and renewable energy (not including electricity) is 18, 8 and 6%, respectively.2 Oil remains the main source of energy for transport, with the share of biofuel being 6%3. Oil consumption by the residential and tertiary sectors has been declining since 1980 in favor of gas and electricity; Energy consumption from renewable sources is growing rapidly. Agriculture uses predominantly petroleum products (74% of total energy consumption in 2014); gas and energy from renewable sources account for 7 and 3%, respectively.

Overall, per capita energy consumption in France is 3.84 million tons of oil equivalent per year, which is significantly lower than the OECD average (4.2 million tons) but higher than the world average (1.9 million tons).

The state is concerned about maintaining the level of energy independence of the country, which is understood as the ratio between the production of primary energy and its consumption in the current year.

Table 3 shows that France is fully self-sufficient in electricity and renewable energy. For other types of primary energy, the country’s level of energy independence tends to zero, which is associated with very low reserves and production of the corresponding energy resources. 4 The energy intensity of the economy is 120.6 kg of oil equivalent per 1 thousand euros of GDP, which is slightly higher than the average in the euro area countries (117.5 kg) 6 .

Leading French companies operating in the energy sector are Total, EDF, GDF Suez (since April 24, 2015 Engie), Areva.

Total is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, one of the three world leaders in the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is present at all stages of its production and sales.

EDF is the largest electricity producer in France (623.3 TWh in 2014), the leading operator of nuclear power plants in the world. The capacity of the company's power plants is 136.2 GW (as of December 31, 2014), including nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric power plants - 72.9, 35 and 28.3 GW, respectively. EDF capital was opened on November 21, 2005, and currently the state share is 84.49% (as of May 1, 2015).7 In recent years, the company has been diversifying its energy production and also seeking to expand the use of renewable energy sources.

GDF Suez was formed in 2008 as a result of the merger of Gaz de France and Suez. The company operates primarily in the gas, electricity and energy services industries. In recent years, it has been expanding its presence in high-growth markets and diversifying its activities into power generation and energy services. It also seeks to increase its own gas production in order to stabilize supplies and mitigate price fluctuations, develops infrastructure (in particular, builds gas pipelines) and expands activities in the liquefied natural gas segment (the most dynamic in the gas industry). The state owns 33.2% of the company's capital, other shareholders - each no more than 5%.

The Areva Group was created in 2001 through the merger of Framatome (now Areva NP), the nuclear division of Siemens, Cogema (now Areva NC) and Technicatome (now Areva TA). Currently, it is one of the world leaders in nuclear energy, the only company in the world present in every part of the nuclear fuel cycle. Areva's plans include strengthening cooperation with its main competitor, the EDF group, and expanding its presence in China. The state owns 28.8% of Areva's capital, the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and 5 Alternative Energy Sources (CEA) - 54.4%, KIA and BPI - 4.8 and 3.3%, respectively.

Since 1997, as part of the EU energy market liberalization program, attempts have been made to reform the French energy market in two general directions: the creation of a competitive supplier market and the demonopolization of traditional electricity and gas suppliers. However, even today EDF, the largest electricity producer in France, accounts for more than 90% of the national electricity market, and about 90% of gas consumers choose GDF. Thus, the French energy market remains largely monopolized.

Coal industry

The coal mining industry was formed in France in the 18th century. Coal mining reached the peak of its development in the middle of the 20th century, then, due to the reorientation to oil and gas, the construction of nuclear power plants, and rising production costs, coal production declined. Since 2004, there has been no coal mining in France (the last mine to close was in Lorraine). The main suppliers of coal to France are Australia (20.6%), South Africa (19.4%), Russia (19.2%), USA (15.7%) and Colombia (12.6%); these five countries account for almost 90% of coal imports. EU countries provide about 7.9% of total imports. 9 Coal is mainly imported (more than 90% of solid mineral fuel supplies), about 60% of which is used to generate electricity, and the rest for the production of pig iron. The main consumers of coal in France are thermal power and metallurgy (about 82% of total consumption).

Oil industry. At the beginning of 2015, proven industrial oil reserves amounted to 10.7 million tons 11 (they are almost entirely concentrated in the Paris and Aquitaine basins). This corresponds to fourteen years of production at the same rate (see Table 4) and two months of national consumption.

Oil production is carried out by Vermilion (more than 60% of total production), Total (more than 35%), Lundin Petroleum, Toreador, Geopetrol, Petrorep and SPPE.

About 98.5% of the country's domestic oil needs are met through imports (see Table 3). Since 1973, there has been a trend towards geographic diversification of crude oil supplies to France. Thus, the share of the Middle East decreased from 71.5% in 1973 to 23.8% in 2014. The share of the countries of the former USSR and sub-Saharan Africa, on the contrary, increased. In addition, supplies began to be made from the North Sea basin (see Table 5).

In 2014, the main suppliers of crude oil to France were Saudi Arabia (20.7%), Kazakhstan (about 15%), Nigeria (11.4%), Russia (9.8%) and Norway (8%).

There are 7 oil storage facilities and 8 oil refineries in the country (5 plants belong to Total, 2 plants belong to Esso and 1 plant belongs to Petroineos).

Natural gas

Proven industrial reserves of natural gas are small and amount to 6.7 billion cubic meters. m 12; they are concentrated mainly in the Lac (Aquitaine) 13 and Nord-Pas-de-Calais basins. Gas production is carried out by Total, Gazonor and Vermilion, while their own gas production provides less than one tenth of one percent of national consumption (see table 3), and almost all of the gas consumed is imported (see table 6).

The table shows that about 85% of natural gas imports come from just four countries: Norway, Russia, the Netherlands and Algeria.

LNG accounts for about 20% of gas supplies to France (mainly from Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar), the rest of the imports are provided by pipeline supplies.

The country has 37 thousand km of gas transmission networks (32 thousand km are operated by GRTgaz and 5 thousand km in the south-west of the country by TIGF), 195 thousand km of gas distribution networks, 15 gas storage facilities and four regasification terminals with a total capacity of about 35 billion cube m per year. The terminals Fos Tonkin (Marseille area, in operation since 1972) and Montoir-deBretagne (Nantes area, in operation since 1980) are wholly owned by Elengy (a subsidiary of the GDF Suez group). The Fos Cavaou terminal (near the Cavaou Peninsula in the south of the country, in operation since 2010) is owned by Fosmax LNG, a joint venture between Elengy (78% capital) and Total (22%). The operator of the Dunkirk LNG terminal, built in the port of Dunkirk in 2015 (currently in the testing stage), is Dunkerque LNG (part of the EDF group).

There are 16 underground gas storage facilities in France with a total capacity of about 13 billion cubic meters. m. The operator of 14 of them is Storengy, 100% of the capital of which belongs to the GDF Suez group, the remaining two are operated by TIGF.

Electric power industry

France has a powerful electric power industry. After the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The state accelerated the development of nuclear power as part of a strategy to ensure the country's energy security. The importance of thermal power plants in electricity production is decreasing (see Table 7). As of the end of June 2015, the total capacity of French thermal power plants was 3,000 MW.

Currently, France ranks 2nd in Europe after Germany in electricity production and 2nd in the world after the United States in the number of nuclear reactors. The country has 58 nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 63.2 GW, which produce 77% of the country's electricity. According to this indicator, France is significantly ahead of other countries in the world (see table 8).

The French nuclear industry is represented by the groups EDF, GDF Suez (operation of nuclear reactors) and Areva (development and construction of nuclear reactors, services related to their operation; currently building the country's first third-generation reactor). Areva NC, a subsidiary of the Areva group, is involved in uranium mining, nuclear fuel production and radioactive waste processing.

France is the largest exporter of electricity, supplying mainly to the UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain.

Renewable energy sources (RES)

In 2014, primary energy production from renewable sources amounted to 22.4 million tons of oil equivalent. About 40% of the energy was generated from wood, 11.6% from biofuels and 6.8% from heat pumps. The contribution of hydraulic energy is estimated at 23.8%.14 More than half of the energy from renewable sources is consumed in the residential sector, the share of transport is 16%.

Despite the positive dynamics in the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources, their existing volumes are insufficient to achieve the goals of the new French energy policy (see below).

The result of the work carried out since the mid-1970s. policies have become a high level of energy independence of the country, low cost of electricity and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere during energy production (see Table 9).

At the present stage, France faces the challenges of increasing energy efficiency, expanding the use of renewable energy sources and reducing environmental damage caused by the use of environmentally “dirty” energy sources. In this regard, the new energy policy framework set out in the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act (passed on August 17, 2015) provides for a significant reduction in national energy consumption, as well as a transition from a modern energy system based on non-renewable resources, to a system based on the use of renewable sources (for example, by 2025, the share of nuclear generation in total electricity generation should be reduced to 50%).15 The EU Energy Strategy contains goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency (by 2030 compared to 1990 by 40% and 30% respectively).

So, the fuel and energy complex remains one of the most significant sectors of the national economy, and its traditional feature is preserved - a high degree of monopolization. Further development of the fuel and energy complex in France is associated with increased energy efficiency and the transition to a new energy system based on renewable energy sources.

In contact with

The first nuclear power plant in France was founded at the dawn of the development of the industry - in 1959 near the city. As of winter 2017, France has 58 reactors with a total capacity of 63,130 MW. All of them are evenly distributed throughout the territory of France into 19 operating nuclear power plants, as can be seen from. Another reactor is under construction.

The complexity of the situation and the possibility of such accidents as at the “old” stations in France does not stop the country from developing the industry. And even though only one reactor has been laid down over the past 10 years, the country does not have an earlier date. Only the issue that worries the Germans is the Fessenheim nuclear power plant. Nuclear energy in France is an example of the reasonable use of nuclear energy and savings on traditional natural energy resources - oil, gas, coal. All this despite the almost complete absence of major accidents at nuclear power plants.

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One of the power plants under construction that causes fear among neighboring countries is the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

The report found that "total installed capacity increased by less than one percent over the past year to 351 GW, comparable to levels in 2000." Annual nuclear energy production reached 2.476 TWh (one terawatt-hour equals one billion kilowatt-hours) in 2016, an increase of 1.4 percent from the previous year. However, this was seven percent below the historical high in 2006. China was entirely responsible for the global increase in nuclear power generation last year—its generation grew by 23 percent. Moreover, this is seven percent lower than in 2015. The report shows that even China's widely publicized nuclear power plant development program has begun to stall.

If we talk about the share of nuclear energy in the world’s energy balance, it has remained stable over the past five years - 10.7 percent. However, it is noted that this share has been steadily declining since the historic peak of 17.5 percent in 1996. Nuclear power's share of global commercial consumption also remained constant at 4.5 percent, one of the lowest levels since 1984. Last year, the “big five” countries generating “nuclear” electricity were (in descending order) the United States, France, China, Russia and South Korea. These states produced 70 percent of the world's nuclear energy. The United States and France accounted for 48 percent of the world's nuclear power last year.

The report classifies 43 Japanese reactors as being in Long-Term Outage - three fewer than last year, as two were restarted (Ikata-3 and Takahama-4) and Monju was closed permanently. In addition to the Japanese reactors, two French ones (Bugey-5, Paluel-2), as well as one reactor each in Argentina (Embalse), India (Kakrapar-2), Switzerland (Beznau-1) and Taiwan (Chinshan-1) also meet the criteria for long-term shutdowns.

All ten reactors in Fukushima (Daiichi and Daini) are considered permanently closed and are therefore also excluded from the calculation of operating nuclear power plants.

Last year, ten reactors were launched in the world - five in China, one each in India (Kudankulam-2), Pakistan (Chasnupp-3), Russia (Novovoronezhskaya-2), South Korea (Shin-Kori-3) and USA (Watts Bar-2, after 43 years of construction). Last year, two reactors were closed - the third power unit at the Novovoronezh NPP in Russia and Fort Calhoun-1 in the USA.

In the first half of 2017, two reactors were put into operation in the world: one each in China (Yangjiang) and Pakistan (Chasnupp-4), which was built by a Chinese company. At the same time, the two oldest reactors were closed, respectively, in South Korea (Kori-1) after 40 years of operation and in Sweden (Oskarshamn-1) - after almost 46 years of operation.

A special place in the report is occupied by the issues of the age of nuclear reactors and extending their “life”. Considering that no major new nuclear power plant construction programs have yet appeared in the world (except for China), the average age of the operating nuclear reactor fleet continues to grow - by mid-2017 it was 29.3 years (4 months older than in 2016). To understand the situation and the permanent safety problem, it should be noted that more than half of its total number (234 units) have been operating for over 31 years. Of these, 64 reactors have reached an age of over 41 years or more.

It is becoming common practice that reactors that have already exhausted their technical potential inherent in their design are not closed, and their service life is extended by political decisions of governments. This happens differently in all countries. For example, in the United States today, 84 of 99 operating reactors have already had their license extended to 60 years. In France, by law, the reactor “life” can be extended for ten years. However, national nuclear safety regulators believe that there is no guarantee that all French nuclear reactors will pass the test for sustainable operation for forty years. In addition, experts believe, proposals to increase the “life” of reactors contradict the declared goal of reducing the share of nuclear power in total consumption in France from the current three-quarters to half by 2025. In neighboring Belgium, authorities also extended the operation of three reactors by ten years. However, the Belgians have not yet abandoned their decision to phase out the use of nuclear energy by 2025.

Increasing the tenure of current rectors raises the most questions among experts from a security point of view. If all operating reactors were shut down at the end of their forty-year service life (with the exception of 72 units that will cross the forty-year mark by 2020), the report's authors say, the number of operating reactors would decrease by 11 units (to the total number in 2016). .

However, I note that if dozens of reactors, whose service life has already been extended to 40 or more years, were stopped with a simple stroke of a pen, then big problems would arise in nuclear energy (and in the life of particularly reactor-dependent countries). That is, the point is that nuclear scientists, when planting nuclear power plants, least of all think about what and how will happen to these stations when the reactors end their “life.” The problem of safely decommissioning a nuclear power plant before turning its site into a green lawn is still acute. And the process of such a wonderful transformation, according to experts, takes up to 120 years. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of collapse in life in general and in the nuclear industry in particular would have happened if more than 200 nuclear reactors at nuclear power plants that had been operating for more than 30 years were stopped overnight.

But even if all the old reactors that had their “life extended” began to operate uninterruptedly, the report notes, the number of operating ones would still increase by only five units and would add 16.5 GW of generation by 2020. By 2030, 163 aging reactors must be shut down (due to the laws of physics, which are not influenced by political decisions), and the loss of 144.5 GW must somehow be compensated.

Currently, 13 countries are building nuclear power plants, which is less than in previous years. Construction of Brazil's only new nuclear power plant (Angra-3) was suspended after authorities were accused of corruption. As of July 1, 2017, 53 reactors were under construction around the world. This is five less than a year ago and 15 less than in 2013. Moreover, 20 of the 53 reactors are being built in China. The total capacity of all those under construction is 53.2 GW. The average life of reactors under construction is about seven years, an increase of more than six months. In mid-2017, 11 of the 17 “core” startups planned for this year had already been postponed to 2018 or beyond.

Construction of all reactors in eight of the 13 countries was delayed, mostly by a year or longer. There are absolutely amazing “nuclear” long-term construction projects - three reactors began to be designed about or more than 30 years ago. These are the third and fourth at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia, the construction of which began in 1987. And also the fourth - at the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant. The project, according to which this station should consist of four power units of 1 GW each, was approved back in 1979, construction work began even earlier - in 1977.

For the first time, in the annual international report on the global status of nuclear energy, European scientists devoted several more detailed paragraphs to Russia. However, we are not talking about the construction of nuclear power plants in the Russian Federation and abroad, but about small modular reactors, which are gaining increasing popularity in the world. In Russia, these are the so-called “floating nuclear power plants”, which have long been dubbed “floating Chernobyls” by the people.

Alla Yaroshinskaya