Nuclear reforms will help Russia to successfully compete on world nuclear market

31.10.2007 // RIA Novosti

Reformation of nuclear industry will help Russia to successfully compete on world nuclear market

The reformation of the nuclear industry of Russia – particularly, the establishment of Atomenergoprom OJSC and Rosatom state corporation — will help the country to successfully compete on world nuclear market, the first vice chairman of the Committee on Natural Monopolies of the Federation Council of Russia Valentin Mezhevich said during a visit to Paks NPP (Hungary).

“The establishment of such a big, vertically integrated corporation will help us to more effectively cooperate with our partners. We are not seeking to monopolize the market. The reforms will help Russia to retain its leading positions on the world nuclear market,” Mezhevich said.

“Our initiatives in the nuclear sector are attracting not only traditional partners but also lots of third countries. Not every state can afford developing its own nuclear fuel cycle and enriching uranium on its own. So, this service can be provided by the International Uranium Enrichment Center established by Russia on the basis of Angarsk Electrolytic Chemical Combine. A number of countries have already expressed wish to join the Center, including Ukraine, Armenia and Australia.”

The many-year cooperation between Russia and Hungary is a good example of how one can effectively prevent speculations on the problem of nuclear safety. “Today, some politicians point out the key role of nuclear energy for the sustainable development of humanity but, at the same time, they speculate on the necessity to guarantee nuclear fuel supplies with a view to create their own fuel cycles contrary to the non-proliferation regime. Our cooperation proves that such speculations are groundless. Our TVEL Corporation has been the only fuel supplier of Paks NPP since the plant’s launch 25 years ago with no single instance of delay registered throughout the period,” Mezhevich said.