Substantiation of the ecological and economic advantages of a radequivalent approach to radioactive waste management in the framework of the development of a two-component model of nuclear energy

The Energy Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 9, 2020 No. 1523-r, emphasizes that "the main problems and risks of the development of nuclear energy are associated with relatively high costs of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety and the need to handle spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste with taking into account the requirements of environmental safety". The paper considers the ecological and economic advantages of a radequivalent approach to radioactive waste management within the framework of a two-component nuclear power industry. The potential radiotoxicity of the VVER-1000 and BREST-1200 reactors is compared. It is assumed that in a closed fuel cycle, radioactive waste from spent nuclear fuel processing is sent to burial, consisting of 0.1% of Sr, Cs, Tc, I, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm from their content in spent nuclear fuel and all other radionuclides. It has been established that the potential carcinogenic risks of VVER-1000 spent nuclear fuel are 2.7 times higher than the same indicator for natural uranium. This means that when the spent nuclear fuel of the VVER-1000 reactor is disposed of without achieving the effect of radiological equivalence, economic losses will amount to 19.9 billion rubles by increasing the frequency of carcinogenesis.