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A view on Russia's nuclear power strategy at the present stage - including the formation of a two-component system including fast reactors and the possibility of fuel cycle closure on the basis of thermal reactors - as well as on the prospects for using thorium and including thermonuclear neutron sources in nuclear power in the distant future is discussed. The key problems of the impending state of implementation of the country's nuclear power strategy are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of systems studies of the coordinated development of nuclear and thermonuclear power generation to secure rapid growth of energy production in the current century are presented. Taking into consideration the increasing difficulties in meeting the required demand for energy, it is expedient to use thermonuclear reactors as high-power neutron sources for the production of nuclear fuel in a blanket. It is shown that in such a structural configuration of an energy system the fraction of thermonuclear sources can be relatively small. For sufficiently large scales of nuclear fuel production, even the paradigms for the development of nuclear power plants can change toward lower unit capacity in order to increase safety, simplify the fuel cycle, and do away with reprocessing of high-level spent fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]