VVER

The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from Russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор (ВВЭР), romanized: vodo-vodyanoi enyergeticheskiy reaktor) is a series of pressurized water reactor designs developed in the Soviet Union and Russia by OKB Gidropress. The name refers to the use of water as both the nuclear coolant and the neutron moderator, in a reactor intended for energy generation.

The idea of such a reactor was proposed at the Kurchatov Institute by Savely Moiseevich Feinberg. The first prototype VVER-210 was built at the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant before the 1970s, as one of two initial Soviet reactor designs (the other being the RBMK). There have been several subsequent generations of VVER design, so the name is associated with substantially different reactors from original generation I to modern generation III+ designs. Electrical power output ranges from 70 to 1300 MWe, with designs of up to 1700 MWe currently in development.

VVER power stations have been installed in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, India, and Iran. Countries that are planning to introduce VVER reactors include Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Germany shut down its older generation VVER reactors in 1989-90, and cancelled those under construction.