Improvement in the technology of water cooled reactor plants in the USSR

The report contains the main results in improvement of technology of water-cooled reactors that have been achieved in the USSR since the previous IWG ATPWR meeting in Helsinki, Finland, June 1988. First of all, the safety of operating reactor plants of WWER and RBMK type was greatly increased. New normative-technical documentation was revised and reissued. Introducing new ''General statements of nuclear station safety ensurance'' (OPB-88) since 1.07.1990 is of great importance. The safety analysis showed that the available WWER-1000 design may be the base one for the further development of the advanced technology for WWER that meets the requirements of safety, reliability and economical efficiency. Nowadays, development of two commercial designs of WWER is being conducted: average power, 500-600 MWe and 1000-1300 MWe. The latter one has two stages: WWER-88 (1000 MWe power, in 1990 the stage of detailed project report will be completed) and WWER-92 (1000-1300 MWe power, the concept of the design has been developed). Besides, the design of nuclear district heating plant AST-500 has been developed and its construction is underway now. The design passed an independent examination for safety requirements compliance. (author). 7 refs, 3 figs