Generation-I to IV Nuclear Power Plants - Their Role in Continued Development

The development of the use of nuclear power can be structured in terms of reactor generations. This allows the respective central design objectives to be indicated and used to derive and substantiate criteria for advanced development. Progress in construction and operation of nuclear power plants today can be arranged in three generations. The 1st generation of nuclear power plants primarily managed reactivity, the 2nd-generation plants achieved economic viability, and the nuclear power plants of the 3rd generation are inherently safe in design. A point of debate is the usefulness of a classification scheme leading to Generation Four. On the basis of the method of description considered it can be shown, on the one hand, by operating histories and backfitting schemes and, on the other hand, by the differences found, why generations of nuclear power plants emphasizing the safety aspect require, from the outset, that the comprehensive safety criteria and reliable safety measures be clarified which are needed for the conceptual design, construction and operation of inherently safe nuclear power plants and for their acceptance.