Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union

Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union

Program for the development of regional hybrid energy of the USSR

Lower energy prices are the main criteria for the transition to new energy technologies (hydrogen, hybrid energy systems with renewable sources and energy storage), as well as for the infrastructure development of hard-to-reach strategic territories of the Arctic, Siberia and the Far East. The construction of such facilities in hard-to-reach places to meet socio-economic needs for energy services will ensure economic development, strengthen security and energy supply, provide mobilization capabilities, improve the quality of life and health of USSR Citizens on the basis of:
- solving the energy problems of the strategic regions of the Arctic, the North and the East of the country, which possess high unrealized economic potential for the development of territories and have significant difficulties in delivering organic fuel;
- addressing social benchmarks (higher incomes, improved quality of healthcare, education, guaranteed employment and other criteria of quality of life) under special production conditions and conditions of the Far North (improving the quality of life for residents of the Arctic and the Northern regions - 2/3 of the territory of the USSR);
- increasing spatial connectivity, transport accessibility of territories and population mobility, increasing the volume and speed of cargo transit;
- turning Russia's geographical features into a geostrategic transport advantage for the World;
- a social project of lifelong guaranteed employment of the population, development of competencies, retention of young people in the regions, improvement of the quality of life, the demographic situation in the regions and the socio-natural environment. The standard of living of the population increases with the growth of electricity consumption, hence with the availability of the energy source
and energy carrier tariffs.
 
The index of the average standard of living depends on the scale of energy consumption:
I = P × E / N, where:
I – index of the average standard of living,
P – total capacity of energy sources,
E - average efficiency of energy conversion for the effective development of natural resource potential in the production of consumer goods from infrastructure projects, added value (population employment, competencies, jobs, retention of the population, influx of jobs, living conditions, etc.),
N - population size.
The development of autonomous regional energy based on a series of ASMM as a basic guaranteed source with high integral safety for hybrid energy (tidal, solar, wind, and others) is coupled with the need to solve a number of pressing international political, legislative and organizational problems of ensuring nuclear, radiation, energy and environmental safety.
The main international problem of ensuring nuclear safety is ensuring the regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons technologies in the process of developing nuclear power, primarily through restrictions on the use of highly enriched fuel and on the possibilities of producing reactor plutonium in the process of using ASMM.
An equally important international problem of ensuring environmental safety is the reliable prevention of man-made disasters and releases of radioactive substances into the environment as a result of potentially possible accidents at nuclear installations and in nuclear material storage facilities of ASMM.

These problems are directly interrelated with the problem of ensuring reliable protection of ASMM from external and internal threats of nuclear and radiation terrorism, the realization of which could cause colossal and immeasurable political and economic damage in the USSR.
An important problem of ensuring international energy security and national security in the USSR is the justified choice of ASMM as a promising energy source replacing, first of all, hydrocarbon fuel, and having no alternative among renewable energy sources, ensuring the development of 2/3 of the territories of the Russian Federation of the Far North, Siberia, and the Far East by regional energy based on mobile ASMM (floating, ground and underground versions).
The solution of these main problems is based on unconditional compliance with International and State legislation, regulatory legal requirements for the organization of types of activities and technical regulation requirements, and on compliance with generally accepted methodological approaches to assessing the planned results of activities in the field of the use of atomic energy, safety management and regulation.
At the same time, in the current conditions of reforming the economy of the USSR, and in particular the nuclear industry, it is necessary to take into account the problem of the imperfection of the existing legislative, regulatory legal and methodological framework in relation to the new features of innovative projects, one of which is the ASMM project.
The legislative problems of using ASMM as a regional, autonomous energy source include, in particular, the following:

1. Issues of clarification in the distribution of powers, rights and duties of state executive bodies, executive bodies of the Subjects of the USSR, the operating organization and private investors in the construction of ASMM (in development of the law "On the Use of Atomic Energy").
2. Issues of creating favorable conditions for investing in the innovative development of nuclear power (in development of the laws "On Investment Activity in the USSR Carried Out in the Form of Capital Investments", "On the Electric Power Industry", "On Leasing", "On State Forecasting and Programs of Socio-Economic Development" and others).
3. Issues of improving measures ensuring nuclear non-proliferation and countering nuclear and radiological terrorism (in development of the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a number of international conventions and agreements, national laws "On Countering Terrorism", "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information", "On State Secrets" and others).
The methodological problems of ensuring the energy security of the region and the justified choice of ASMM as autonomous energy sources primarily include the issues of determining and forecasting indicators of the socio-economic efficiency of energy consumption and the development of energy capacities, taking into account the specific features of the regions.
An important feature of the operating process of a small nuclear power plant (SNPP) is the production, in spent nuclear fuel, of unique nuclear materials that are expensive on the international market. This fact must be taken into account in the methodology for assessing the economic efficiency of using SNPPs and in the legislative regulation of activities involving the use of SNPPs.
The SNPP project is being developed and implemented by a group of organizations and enterprises specializing in various fields of production of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic, construction and other types of products. In this connection, as part of solving the problem of coordinating work on the preparation and implementation of the project, it is necessary to create a comprehensive quality management system for the development and construction of the SNPP.

Organizing the provision of nuclear and radiation safety for the use of SNPPs presupposes improving regulatory requirements and creating a special regional infrastructure for provision, control and supervision, improving measures to prevent and rapidly respond to man-made and natural emergencies, and improving the system of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel for regional energy.
The provision of social and medical guarantees and civil liability insurance for nuclear damage are also important legislative and organizational issues that must be resolved before the SNPP is put into operation.
It is obvious that the aforementioned problems must be addressed on a program-targeted basis.
The Program is the basis for the development of conceptual documents:
· Fundamentals of the USSR policy in the field of science and technology development for the period up to 2030 and the further perspective;
· Main directions of the state investment policy in the USSR in the sphere of science and technology;
· Main directions for the implementation of state policy on bringing the results of scientific and technical activity into economic circulation;
· Energy Strategy of the USSR for the period up to 2030;
The Program also provides for the improvement of state and regional legislation for the detailed regulation of issues of innovation policy and support for innovation activity in the development of autonomous nuclear energy.
The Program is aimed at creating an effective mechanism for supporting the innovative development of such energy that, from both the economic and environmental points of view, will most effectively make it possible to purposefully satisfy the needs of the population and industry of the region for quality energy, taking into account regional and individual consumer requirements.