[en] The creation of next generation advanced nuclear reactor designs is impossible without operational and technological experience of those in operation now. Safety and economics are the key problems for both currently under development and perspective designs. This paper presents information on the operational experience of the first large-scale nuclear power plant (NPP) with the BN-600 fast reactor and on the influence of this operational experience upon the solution of safety problems of NPPs being currently designed

[en] The development of self-protected nuclear reactors (having intrinsic safety properties) is considered a new approach to the solution of the safety problem. Attempts are being made to achieve self-protectedness by using known physical laws such as natural coolant circulation; the thermal expansion of fuel, the lattices of the discharge chamber, and the absorption rods; the Doppler effect; and gravity. Reactor shutdown and shutdown-cooling systems designed with these passive principles in mind can be made absolutely reliable. Given such systems, one faces the task of ensuring the survivability of the reactor in design accidents and in accidents that go beyond this framework and that involve the simultaneous failure of active protective systems and the regular cooling system. Work to develop a self-protected reactor is in the initial stage. At present, ways of solving this problem completely for medium- and high-power reactors are not entirely clear. It is apparent that we still have not found optimal solutions with respect to the design of fuel subassemblies and the core as a whole, to the type of fuel, and to other reactor parameters that would ensure maximum sensitivity of 'critical' geometry to coolant output temperature and heating. This problem will be solved in stages (beginning with an enhanced-safety reactor) with the ultimate goal of building an extremely or absolutely safe reactor. In the first stage, in the selection of hydraulic characteristics, the task is set of designing a core and a reactor which is the topic of this paper

[en] Comparative evaluation methods for fast reactor NPP with different parameters of the steam cycle are discussed. The comparative evaluation methods at Nsub(cl)=const and Nsub(therm)=const powers are compared. It is shown that in the first case the parameters lesser than in the second case are optimal. It is proposed to compare versions at similar restrictions on the reactor sizes, core and other equipment parameters, which are restricted. The proposed method is illustrated by comparison of low, average and high parameters for a fast reactor at 1500-1600 MW power. The economical estimations show that under considered conditions the version with moderate parameters of the steam cycle 140 atm, 495 deg C (after the steam generator) is the optimum one

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[en] Fast Neutron Plutonium Storage Reactor (FNPSR) concept is presented. Technological and physical problems of plutonium storage reactor development on the basis of design solutions used in BN-1600M and BN-800 type reactor plants are considered. (author)

[en] Possible ways of decreasing fuel costs for power fast reactors with sodium coolant of the first generation at the initial stage of their commissioning in the presence of Pu reserve accumulated during thermal reactor operation have been considered. Investigations have been performed under the conditions of insufficient assimilation and effectiveness of technologies of fuel element production and fast reactor fuel regeneration. The low intensive fast reactor with a decreased blanket thickness Which may be realized in the framework of the traditional variant of the power fast reactor core has been considered as the most perspective variant of such reactors. A conclusion has been drawn that the observed increase of reactor critical loading and insignificant decrease of the breading ratio of the fuel will slightly effect the nuclear power economics because they will be compensated by decreasing of costs on fuel element production and fuel regeneration

[en] The consequences of using sodium, lead and lead-bismuth in fast reactors are analyzed from the viewpoint of the following aspects: the reactor physics and thermohydraulics, the reactor achievable parameters and of the unit as a whole; the effect of the coolant peculiarities on the design solutions by the reactor core elements and the facility as a whole; the expected reliability characteristics of the NPP under normal mode of operation; the NPP safety aspects by using this coolant; the NPP expected economical characteristics

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