The consistent rise of the per capita waste generation rate has led to an escalation of waste quantities and the need to expand waste disposal methods. Efforts to develop clean and affordable energy systems are increasingly linked to waste-to-energy as part of the transition to a circular economy (CE). A resource-efficient waste-to-energy business model within a CE offers a variety of environmentally friendly waste management options based on their overall environmental impacts but also makes efficient use of available resources and technologies to convert different types of waste into energy, which helps reduce the adverse effects on the environment and create additional energy sources. This research aims to identify innovative waste management solutions to foster the implementation of CE and a more resource-efficient business model. The research methodology is based on qualitative and quantitative research, triangulation, material flow assessment, and systems dynamics. The value of this study is within the analysis of existing waste-to-energy plant case studies to identify a set of recommendations and appropriate business models for the countries that are at an early stage of evaluation of such facilities. This study found that waste-to-energy plants are critical to achieving the EU’s waste disposal targets by 2035. The findings highlight the importance of supporting mechanisms in the waste sector, such as structural funds, as the industry primarily focuses on societal health and safety and environmental protection, alongside resource efficiency and circularity potential.

The study considers ways to ensure the quality of the functioning of power equipment as one of the directions for ensuring the safety of energy complexes in the period of “green transformation”. Based on the analysis, it is established that for an effective “green” transformation, it is necessary to ensure the energy safety of equipment operation, which is possible by developing effective science-based approaches to technical diagnostics of the state of power systems and individual equipment. The main objective of the study is to develop a Safety Management Model for Life Term Operation of power equipment, which takes into account changes in its condition at different stages of operation and allows for the prediction of further safe operation. The paper proposes an approach to researching the technical condition of power equipment, taking into account the deformations that occur during operation. The results of the calculation of stress intensity coefficients for longitudinal and transverse-postulated cracks in different modes are presented. Based on the calculated and experimentally obtained values, an approach to predicting the operating life of power equipment with regard to changes in technical characteristics is proposed. The results of the calculations showed that by changing the allowable load on the material of the energy equipment to 35 kgf/mm², the estimated operational lifespan could be extended until 2035, ensuring all necessary safety conditions. It has been proven that with effective management and continuous safety diagnostics, nuclear power plants have the potential to operate beyond their standard design life of up to 30–40 years. This approach allows for the quality and safe operation of power equipment in the context of the transition to sustainable energy.

The study considers approaches to ensuring energy management for the safe operation of facilities and their equipment and ways to improve it. It has been established that to ensure effective safety management of industrial enterprises, one of the critical areas is the technical diagnostics of power equipment during operation. An assessment of the actual technical condition of power equipment of VVER-1000 power units is proposed based on establishing the aging mechanisms and determining the relative evaluation coefficients for the characteristics of individual equipment elements. The results of the calculations allowed us to conclude that the obtained results correspond to the coefficients of relative assessment Ki of the technical characteristics of the power equipment that determine its degradation. Studies indicates that when assessing the state of power equipment, it is necessary to consider the presence and impact of the following operational factors that are not considered in the design calculations: loads, high levels of mechanical stress, fatigue damage, and metal defects, which primarily indicate the presence of degradation changes. To assess the technical condition of the equipment, considering the degree of mechanical wear, 17 technical characteristics were selected to determine the aging mechanisms by signs of degradation. A mathematical model of the dependence of the relative evaluation coefficient K on changes in the operating parameters is presented, and it is noted that the most significant influence on the value of the coefficient is the temperature of the coolant at the inlet (K = 0.56). The developed approach makes it possible to improve the safety management system of power facilities by introducing the proposed model to assess the technical conditions of power equipment by defining the parameters in the overall safety management system.

The study discusses approaches to assessing the quality of sustainable development indicators and analyses sustainable development indicators in general, for which the desirability function and the approach of translating sustainable development indicators into a dimensionless scale are used. This approach makes it possible to analyse the processes of achieving the sustainable development goals and relevant tasks on the basis of statistical data, as well as to compare indicators with different characteristics. For the purpose of qualimetric assessment, the article proposes to divide the indicators of sustainable development into four groups characterized by the following parameters: the lowest value is the best, the highest value is the best, the average value is the best, and the values that simultaneously tend to the lowest and the highest. It is proposed to evaluate sustainable development indicators in accordance with the group, taking into account the significance of the indicator, for which the form parameter and the evaluation step are selected by the expert evaluation method. For example, several sustainable development indicators for different groups are presented, and calculations are made to determine the dimensionless indicator, taking into account its significance according to the opinion of experts. As a result, we obtained dimensionless values for each of the sustainable development indicators (FQ = 0.92, 0.98, 0.86, 0.28, and 0.54), which characterize the achievement of sustainable development goals and allow us to assess progress in both a prospective and retrospective context.

The article explores strategies to guarantee the reliable performance of power equipment as part of the efforts to ensure the safety of energy complexes during