On June 1 in Gostiny Dvor, the VIII International Forum ATOMEXPO 2016 closed. It was organized by ROSATOM.
More than 5,000 people visited the Forum (last year there were 4,131 participants) over three days. Fifty five countries were represented by 508 participants of the Forum, a record number in the forum’s history (last year 48 countries participated). In particular, representatives from Bolivia, Guatemala, Greece, Zimbabwe, and Namibia participated in ATOMEXPO for the first time.
The forum’s business program included two main plenary sessions: “Nuclear Power as a Basis for Zero Carbon Energy Balance” and “Future of Nuclear Power. New Players”. They were attended by top managers of large Russian and foreign companies, as well as representatives of non-governmental and professional organizations.
The main topic of the Forum was the role of nuclear power in the low-carbon energy mix of the future. In particular, CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko noted that “the current development of nuclear power gives guarantees of energy supplies to consumers at stable prices and greatly contributes to prevention of CO2 releases into the atmosphere”. To keep the balance, it is important for low-carbon power generation to have the baseline generation, which can be provided by nuclear power, he emphasized. Sergey Kirienko also noted that the International Energy Agency estimated that today nuclear power plants prevent effluents to the atmosphere of 56 megatons of СО2. “In Russia only NPPs by 2030 will prevent releases of 711 million tons of СО2. That’s too much. Therefore, nuclear power plant construction programs are launched by countries where sun is shining 365 days a year or there are plenty of hydrocarbons,” he said.
The exhibition ran as part of the forum. Ninety nine Russian and foreign companies took part in it. Thirty agreements and memoranda of understanding between various countries and companies were signed during the event. For example, the agreements on the peaceful uses of atomic energy were signed with Kenya and Tanzania. Cumulative economic value of the signed documents was about US$10bn, Sergey Kirienko said.
In addition to plenary meetings ATOMEXPO 2016 included 12 round-table discussions. Some of the topics were “Fuel Supply and Back End – Integrated Solutions. Competitiveness and Environmental Acceptability of Nuclear Energy Now and in the Future”; “Lifecycle Management. From NPP Construction Management to NPP Information Management Throughout the Lifecycle”; “Energy Balance Optimization, Environmental and Economic Aspects. Nuclear and Renewable Energy”; “Countries on the Threshold of Nuclear Development: Global Challenges and Solutions by
ROSATOM”; and “Eco-efficient Technologies of Nuclear Industry: Today and Tomorrow”.
The last day of the Forum was dedicated to the Youth. It framed 11 events for students and schoolchildren and included contests and Q&A sessions. In particular, at ATOMEXPO 2016 June 1 the ROSATOM’s Process Factory was operating, where different interactive education formats in educational programs of universities were illustrated. A students’ contest “Nuclear Power as the Basis of Carbon-free Energy Mix” was also carried out.
More than 450 journalists were covering the forum, including more than 240 representatives of foreign mass media.