Overview
ABSTRACT
In the late 50s, civil applications of nuclear energy, such as electricity generation, were developed in parallel in the West and in the Soviet Union. For pressurized light water reactors, the concepts are much the same, with liquid water in the primary circuit, steam generators and secondary circuits; nuclear fuel is uranium oxide weakly enriched up to around 5%. However, these are the only similarities, engineering solutions developed being quite different between the West and the Soviet Union. This paper presents the history and development of the Soviet-designed pressurized water reactors, including the latest generation III designs.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Vassili BORZOV: International Development Engineer - ASNR, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
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Borislav DIMITROV: Reactor Safety Expert (retired) - ASNR, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
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Christophe HERER: Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis and Simulation Engineer (retired) - ASNR, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
INTRODUCTION
The first prototype reactors using nuclear energy were built in the Soviet Union in the 1950s ; on June 27, 1954, a 5 MW uranium-graphite reactor went into production at Obninsk near Moscow. The first prototype Soviet-type pressurized water reactor (210 MW electric) went into production in 1964 at Novovoronezh, just over 500 km south of Moscow.
This article gives a chronological overview of the different VVER industrial models. The first section provides a brief description of the principle and main differences between VVERs and Western pressurized water reactors (PWRs), as well as the reasons behind the different technological choices. The main VVER series are then described in detail in the following sections.
The article is limited to a technical description, without addressing
economic aspects, reliability and safety and operating considerations.
On the latter points, please refer to the article Sûreté des centrales
nucléaires des pays d'Europe de l'Est
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KEYWORDS
pressurized water reactor | light water | WWER
Russian-designed pressurized water reactors : the VVERs
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"Nuclear engineering"
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