Microeconomics of improving the safety of nuclear power plants based on using of accident tolerant fuel

DOI: 10.33917/mic-5.100.2021.49-61

An analytical methodology for evaluating the criteria of microeconomic efficiency of investments in nuclear power plants with innovative accident tolerant nuclear fuel resistant is presented. The main directions of current research in the world on the development of various variants of accident tolerant nuclear fuel are shown. To assess the competitiveness of nuclear power plants with accident tolerant fuel, it is proposed to use the coefficients of the influence of tolerant fuel on capital, operating and fuel costs, as well as on the efficiency of using the installed reactor capacity. Analytical formula containing influence coefficients are obtained to evaluate the main criteria for the effectiveness of investments in nuclear power plants with such type of fuel: internal return rate, levelized cost of electricity, discounted payback period and net present value. The results of the analysis of the sensitivity of microeconomic criteria to the proposed influence coefficients are presented. This approach allows us to determine the most important directions for a detailed analysis of the economic effects of the intеgration of accident tolerant fuel into nuclear power.