Looking east--the nuclear push in the USSR and eastern Europe

This article reviews the present and planned nuclear generating capacity of the Soviet Union and other members of Comecon. Although the USSR's total installed nuclear capacity is presently only about 8000 MW, it is planned to increase this capacity to 18,400 MW by 1980 and the capacity of all Comecon countries to 30,000 MW. The Comecon countries want to attain a nuclear production capacity of 130,000-150,000 MW by 1990. The USSR forsees an annual nuclear generation rate of 350 billion kWh in 1985, and more than 500 billion kWh in 1990. The Soviets will be able to install 10,000 MW of nuclear power generation capacity annually towards the end of the next Five-Year Plan (1981-85). Presently, the workhorse of the Comecon-wide nuclear program is the pressurized light water reactor of the Novo-Voronezh type, with a design rating of 440 MW. The operational results of the 440 MW units have been very satisfactory. In the Soviet Union itself, there is a new mainstay reactor unit now in service, one with no parallel in the West, namely, a boiling light-water pressure tube reactor. Reactors of this type with generating capacities up to 1000 MW are already operational. Apart from thermal reactors, the Soviet Union is also leading in breeder reactor development, together with France, with whom it is closely cooperating in this field