In 2006 the share of NPPs in the total electricity production in Russia grew by 17%

27.02.2007 // RIA Novosti

In 2006 the share of NPPs in the total electricity production in Russia grew to 17% from 15.8% in 2005, the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko said during a meeting of the board of Rostekhnadzor on Tuesday.

He noted that the Russian authorities have instructed the nuclear power sector to raise its share in the total electricity production to 25%-30%.

“In 2006 the Russian NPPs produced record 154.7bln KWh of cheaper and more effective electricity, 4.8% more than in 2005,” Kiriyenko said.  

He pointed out that in 2006 there was no single safety-related incident at the Russian NPP. “In Russia we have 2.5 times fewer unplanned suspensions than they in France do,” Kiriyenko said referring to international experts.

Kiriyenko noted that Russia will be able to develop nuclear energy only if it is convinced that this sector is closely controlled. The key task is to combine the toughening of safety rules with the active building of new NPPs.  

Kiriyenko said that Rostekhnadzor should be involved in the development of the nuclear power sector. In 2007 it is necessary to analyze the legal conditions of the sector’s work and to revise its legislative basis.

It is also necessary to reduce the period of nuclear power unit construction from seven to three years.

Kiriyenko noted that they in the US do not accept NPP building projects that are longer than three years