Huseyn Chechenov, member of Federation Council Sub-Committee on Nuclear Energy

– Today we have enough grounds for being confident of successful outcome of nuclear reforms

On July 29 Prime Minister of Russia, Chairman of United Russia party Vladimir Putin held a government conference on nuclear energy development in Elektrostal.

No doubt that Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is working successfully. The production and the sales of Russian NPPs are steadily growing, which proves that the reforms are moving in the right direction.

At the same time, there are a number of problems we have yet to solve. The implementation of the plans to build 26 nuclear reactors in 12 years will be the key indicator of the success of the reforms. The key goal of the nuclear sector is to increase the share of NPPs in the total energy production to no less than 25%.

This will require a lot of money and effort. We will have not only to build NPPs but also to train personnel for them. This will require creating a whole system. The idea of opening a National Nuclear University is the best solution to this problem.

One more priority is designing nuclear reactors of new generation as one of our key competitive advantages on the foreign market. For this purpose, we are drafting a federal target program “Nuclear Power Technologies of New Generation,” to be finalized by Nov 2008.

It is obvious that the 26 nuclear reactors we are planning to build in the next 12 years will need relevant networks. Without developed network infrastructure we will not be able to develop our nuclear industry. Today it is absolutely obvious that nuclear energy will have no alternatives in the coming 30–40 years and, if we fail to effective use our gas and oil resources, we will not have a worthy substitute to them in the future. Only nuclear energy meets all existing safety standards and only nuclear energy will be able to meet the growing demands of the economy.

I think that today we have enough grounds for being confident of the success of the reforms in the nuclear industry.