The 58th IAEA General Conference started in Vienna on September 22. The week-long conference is attended by delegations from 162 IAEA Member States at the level of ministers and heads of nuclear complexes. The Russian delegation is led by CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko.
On September 22 Sergey Kirienko addressed the Plenary Session of the conference. He stated in particular that Russia would continue nuclear power development. In addition, he noted ROSATOM’s achievements in the field of the international cooperation.
“The first concrete was cast on the construction site of the second stage of Tianwan NPP in China. Construction of the two-unit Belarus NPP was initiated. Russia won the tender for construction of the first NPP in Jordan. We are proudly and responsibly taking these manifestations of confidence.
In June, the first power unit of Kudankulam NPP in India was brought to full power. The second unit is being prepared for initial criticality. Intergovernmental agreements for construction of a two-unit NPP at Paks site have been signed with Hungary. Contractual documents for construction of Hanhikivi NPP in Finland have been endorsed. These units are of the most modern Generation III+ design, fully compliant with international standards and with very stringent requirements of the regulatory authorities of the host countries. Activities have been initiated at the Rooppur NPP site in Bangladesh, where the first in the country Russian-design two-unit power plant is being constructed. A memorandum on the construction of the first Kazakhstan NPP was signed during the meeting of the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan this May. I would like to emphasize that we believe it to be of extreme importance to ensure, together with our partners, not only construction of the modern nuclear power plants, but also the development of nuclear infrastructure required for sustainable, effective and safe implementation of national nuclear power programs.”
ROSATOM SIGNED A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS AT THE GC MARGINS
At the margins of the IAEA General Conference ROSATOM signed a number of important agreements. In particular, on September 22 , the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on Strategic Partnership and Cooperation in Nuclear Energy and Industry. On behalf of the Russian Government the document was signed by the Director General of State Corporation “Rosatom” Mr. Sergey Kirienko, on behalf of the South-African Government – by the Minister of Energy Ms. Tina Joemat Pettersson. The Agreement lays the basis of the large-scale nuclear power development program of South Africa based on the construction in RSA of new nuclear power plants with Russian VVER reactors with total installed capacity of up to 9.6 GW (up to 8 NPP units). These are the first NPPs based on the Russian technology to be built on the African continent. The signed Agreement, besides the actual joint NPP construction, provides for comprehensive collaboration in other areas of nuclear power industry, including construction of a Russian-technology based multipurpose research reactor, assistance in the development of South-African nuclear infrastructure, education of South-African nuclear specialists in Russian universities.
“I am convinced in cooperation with Russia, South Africa will gain all necessary competencies for the implementation of this large-scale national nuclear energy development program. Rosatom sees to create in South Africa a full-scale nuclear cluster of a world leader’s level – from the front-end of nuclear fuel cycle up to engineering and power equipment manufacturing. In future this will allow to implement joint nuclear power projects in Africa and third countries. But from the very start this cooperation will be guided at providing the conditions for creation of thousands of new jobs and placing of a considerable order to local industrial enterprises worth at least 10 bln. dollars”, Rosatom’s Director General Mr. Sergey Kirienko noticed.
On the same day, at the 58th IAEA General Conference Dzhomart Aliev, CEO of Rusatom Overseas, and Khaled Toukan, Chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, signed Project Development Agreement on construction of a nuclear power plant in the province of Zarqa in Central Jordan. The document sets obligations of the Parties for the first stage of the two-unit nuclear power plant construction project with total capacity of 2000 MW. The project phase that has now started will result in a contract for nuclear power plant construction that is planned to be signed in 1.5-2 years, K. Toukan said.
According to CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko, the agreement implies contractual works, in particular, design of the water-cooling system, energy market analysis, site evaluation and environmental impact assessment (EIA). He also noted that the Government of Jordan made this project open for investors and ROSATOM was ready to participate. “We are ready to participate as an investor, not only as an engineering company. But we do not seek the controlling stake. It must be controlled by Jordan,” added Sergey Kirienko.
ROSATOM and NAC Kazatomprom signed September 23 the Memorandum of Intent with regard to the mutual understanding relating to the cooperation in the area of nuclear energy promotion. The document was executed by CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko and President of NAC Kazatomprom Nurlan Kapparov.
The Russian and Kazakh companies decided to join their efforts in the area of promoting nuclear energy and up-to-date nuclear technologies in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The parties intent to develop educational and tutorial materials, implement joint programs designed to encourage younger generation to receive college and university education for professions demanded in the area of nuclear power and industry. An important point of the Memorandum is the agreement relating to the creation of information center on nuclear energy on the area of School Students’ Hall in Astana city. The center, which ROSATOM is planning to open next year, will become 23rd in the network of information centers and the 6th center opened abroad. Astana information center shall have the following main objectives: educating the population in the area of nuclear energy implementation, promoting Russian nuclear technologies and technical education, promoting natural sciences. The information center’s target audience is school students, university students, teachers, representatives of government authorities, public and environmental organizations, representatives of mass media.
Besides, on the same day ROSATOM and the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology have signed a memorandum of cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. The signing took place in the presence of CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko. For the Russian side the document was signed by Deputy CEO of ROSATOM Vyacheslav Pershukov; for the Thai side it was signed by Executive Director of the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology Somporn Chongkum.
The Memorandum serves to activate the cooperation in the sphere of the peaceful use of atomic energy between the two countries and contains specific proposals on organizing and implementing this work. The parties are interested in developing the cooperation in the following areas: fundamental and applied research, radioisotopes, nuclear safety, physical and radiation protection, nuclear fuel cycle services, radioactive waste management, education, training and advanced training of administrative, scientific and engineering personnel. The Kingdom of Thailand expressed interest in setting up a joint working group to define specific joint projects that facilitate implementation of Thailand’s plans of building up nuclear power in the Kingdom of Thailand. The Russian party is ready to full cooperation to its partners in such activity, the head of the Russian nuclear industry emphasized.
Moreover, Sergey Kirienko had a series of working meetings in Vienna. In particular, he had a meeting with Argentina’s Minister of Federal Planning Julio de Vido. The meeting confirmed the intention to further strengthen the cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy and to implement initiatives built-in the agreement signed by Russia and Argentina in July. On his part, Kirienko termed the expansion of nuclear cooperation between Russia and Argentina a strategic task, by this having confirmed Russia’s interest in taking active part in future tender for building Argentina’s fifth NPP.