IAEA discussed innovative nuclear reactors and fuel cycles

On July 5, 2022, the IAEA held an online webinar on “Methods of IAEA contribution to the sustainable development of nuclear energy.” Experts discussed issues of strategic planning for the development of nuclear energy, considered the tools of the international project on innovative nuclear reactors and fuel cycles (INPRO) for assessing the stability of IAEA nuclear energy systems.

Separately, experts reviewed INPRO tools for planning nuclear energy systems with enhanced sustainability (ASENES service package), which include the economics support tool for nuclear energy system assessment (NEST), a tool for nuclear energy planning and optimization of the nuclear energy system (MESSAGE-NES), a tool for evaluating methods of multi-criterion analysis of solutions for comparative assessment of versions of nuclear energy systems (KIND-ET), Comparative Evaluation of Nuclear Energy System Options (CENESO) initiative, as well as an analytical decision support tool for structuring, unifying and visualizing data on issues related to long-term nuclear energy planning and improving the sustainability of the nuclear energy system (ROADMAPS-ET).

INPRO helps countries assess national nuclear energy strategies, draw up scenarios for the development of nuclear energy and coordinate innovation research. INPRO uses a detailed methodology to assess whether the development of nuclear energy is sustainable. INPRO models help in assessing how different approaches, including increased trade in nuclear materials and cooperation between countries, can increase the sustainability of the sector in question.

In the course of the webinar A.V. Bychkov, expert of the IAEA INPRO section, noted: “As global energy demand continues to grow, nuclear energy can help ensure access to low-cost, reliable and low-carbon energy. The overall goal of sustainable development is to strive for equality between generations and nations. This goal combines four different dimensions: economic, environmental, social and institutional, which shall be addressed in a balanced way in order to meet the criteria for sustainable energy development.”

Yuliya Chernyakhovskaya, Deputy Director General for Nuclear Infrastructure of Rusatom Service JSC, stressed the importance of using INPRO tools to develop approaches to the necessary infrastructure for innovative technologies to achieve sustainable development goals and safety requirements, for example, to develop infrastructure requirements for participation in nuclear fuel cycle closure projects.

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