Nuclear-energy complexes and the economic and ecological problems of nuclear power development

Conclusions

In the long term, serious economic and ecological problems may arise if the required scale and rate of growth of power production is to be ensured while retaining the principle of dispersed location of ever larger power stations in regions with high population density and a developed infrastructure, since the ecological capacity of these regions is limited. This is particularly true of nuclear power, which in the long term will become the main source of electrical energy.

Prospects for a solution to the economic and ecological problems of nuclear power and for an increase in its economic efficiency are offered by the construction of nuclear-energy complexes—large industrial units that contain within a single site a group of atomic power stations of total rated power output of the order of 10–50,000 MW and also the facilities of the external fuel cycle, the complexes being remote from densely populated regions but connected to the centers of energy demand by electrical transmission lines.