United States will use Russia’s experience in prolonging NPP service lives and ensuring safe NPP construction

15.02.2007 // Press service of Rostekhnadzor

The United States is going to use Russia’s experience in prolonging the service lives of existing NPPs and ensuring safe construction of new reactors

Such a statement was made by US Ambassador to Russia William Burns during his Moscow meeting with the Head of the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Control of Russia (Rostekhnadzor) Konstantin Pulikovsky.

Pulikovsky said that the project for prolonging the service lives of Russian nuclear power facilities is part of the governmental program adopted in 1998.

«We are trying to prolong the lives of NPP units for minimum periods so as to guarantee maximum nuclear and radiation security. We go back to each unit every 2–3 rather than 10 years,» Pulikovsky said.

Burns noted that they in America have not built reactors for a long time. That’s why they are beginning to think about new NPP projects and about prolonging the lives of the existing reactors. In this light, the US is interested in Russia’s experience in NPP construction.

Burns said that the American side is looking forward to Pulikovsky’s participation in the next Regulatory Information Conference of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The conference is to be held in Washington on Mar 13–15, and it is there that the sides are planning to hold their first consultations.