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Full text (ua) Current trends in nuclear energy
V. I. Borysenko*
Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:
vborysenko@ispnpp.kiev.ua
Abstract: Ensuring Ukraine's energy independence will remain a pressing issue in the post-war period. Given the existing destruction and damage to energy facilities, primarily thermal power plants, combined heat and power plants, and hydroelectric power plants, the agenda now includes optimizing the structure and volume of electricity production between different generation types. Optimization must take into account both global trends and national circumstances - the conditions for justifying the choice of generation types and electricity production volumes, as well as Ukraine's international commitments to the use of low-carbon energy technologies. This article examines global trends in the energy sector in general and in the electric power industry in more detail, focusing on nuclear and renewable energy (RE). Significant growth in installed capacity and electricity production volumes at RE facilities is noted. For example, over the past two years, 100 times more new capacity has been added at RE facilities than at nuclear power plants. Since 2021, RE has surpassed nuclear power plants in electricity production volumes, and in 2025, it took the first place globally, overtaking coal-fired thermal power plants. The rapid development of nuclear power in the 1970s and 1980s, during which nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of up to 40 GW were commissioned annually, resulted in a loss of confidence in the safety of nuclear power following the accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979, at Chornobyl in 1986, and at Fukushima in 2011. The consequences of this have been evident for a long time; for example, by 2025, only 3 GW of nuclear power capacity has been commissioned worldwide. The next step in restoring confidence in nuclear power is the introduction of AP1000 and EPR-1750 high-safety reactors, as well as the development and implementation of innovative nuclear power technologies, one manifestation of which is the development of small modular reactors (SMR) technologies. This article presents an analysis of the key characteristics of AP1000, EPR-1750, and SMR reactors, which are already under construction worldwide or are in the final stages of the licensing process for further consideration for possible implementation in Ukraine.
Keywords: nuclear energy, NPP unit, electricity production, AP1000, VVER-1000, small modular reactors.
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