Dmitry Baranov, Leading Expert of Finam Management MC:

 — If we talk about Russia, despite the fact that we still consume less electric power than the U.S., we are also implementing energy efficiency and energy conservation programs and in the midterm, electric power consumption in our country will grow, primarily due to population.

While the eastern US states are suffering from the record-breaking heat, resulting in a threat of partial or even complete power outage, American nuclear power plants are operating with average working capacity of 97% (data for July 4–7). In this regard 85 American reactors for the whole last week were operated with average working capacity of 100% (there are 104 reactors in the country, and 100 of them were in operation last week). “In the extreme conditions, safe operation of nuclear power plants has become vital as it contributes to stable operation of our power network which is necessary for both electric power supply of the US economy and air cooling of houses and offices,» Vice-President of the USA Nuclear Power Institute Alexander Marion said.

Sergey Kondratyev, Senior Expert of the «Institute for Energy and Finance” Fund:

The continuous heat prevailing in the in the Northern Hemisphere, on the one hand, gives people of Northern countries the opportunity to enjoy the warmth and sun before a long winter, and on the other hand, again raises questions about the reliability of national power systems which are capable to withstand peak network loads. We still remember the numerous blackouts in various countries happened also due to electric power overruns from the heat. Under these conditions, reliable operation of power plants of all types is becoming a vital necessity, on which not only comfort of the citizens, but also their lives depend, for example at hospitals, homes for elderly people and maternity homes.

And there are visible differences between various types of power plants and their influence on population and environment. For example the heat negatively affects hydro power plants, because water supplies are reduced due to evaporation; thus, power production may be reduced and lead to supply disruptions. Thermal plants, running on natural raw materials, work more steadily, but produce large amounts of noxious emissions, which in combination with hot air, full of other substances, negatively affect people and environment. In such circumstances, advantages of nuclear power plants become apparent: they run faultlessly, the heat almost does not have any impact on them, and they do not spread into the atmosphere any noxious emissions. It is very illustrative that today, for example, in the US, nuclear power plants are operating with almost 100% load, preventing the „fall“ of national grid and satisfying peak power demands of the households.

If we talk about Russia, despite the fact that we still consume less electric power than the U.S., we are also implementing energy efficiency and energy conservation programs and in the midterm, electric power consumption in our country will grow, primarily due to population. The Earth’s climate is changing, it is already obvious: winters become warmer and summer periods are characterized by higher temperatures. These conditions lead to the increase in electric power consumption, which is almost entirely directed to the air cooling of houses and offices; and in fact, cooling air at high temperatures consumes more energy. With the economy development and increase in the personal income, we can expect an increase in the number of purchases by Russians of different climatic systems, from simple fans to complex multi-fan devices for air cleaning, humidification and ionization.

These devices will be widely used in many regions of our country, not only in the south of Russia, but also in most Russian cities. This means that during hot periods, power consumption will increase, and issues of uninterrupted supplies of citizens’ apartments and houses with electric power will come to the fore. In such periods the growth of power consumption will reach its peak, and the operating nuclear power technologies would help to prevent the energy collapse in Russia and a blackout in major cities. In this connection, for example, the necessity of construction of Rostov NPP power units Nos. 3 and 4 is determined not only by electric power supply to various enterprises of Southern Federal District and North-Caucasian Federal District, but also by supplies of this energy to the districts’ population, in particular for creating comfortable living conditions, including air cooling.