President Vladimir Putin held a working meeting yesterday with Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, at which the prospects for developing nuclear energy were discussed. The minister suggested floating Rosenergoatom [state-run atomic energy concern] in order to increase investment in the sector.

This was far from being the first time Vladimir Putin and Viktor Khristenko have discussed the question of floating the Rosenergoatom concern, which was registered in the form of a federal state unitary enterprise. It was also touched upon on Thursday [16 December] at the State Council Presidium session on nuclear energy which was held at the Kalinin AES [Nuclear Electric Power Station] in the city of Udomlya on the day its third reactor unit was commissioned (Kommersant wrote about this in detail on 17 December).

Yesterday Viktor Khristenko reported to Vladimir Putin that nuclear power stations generate approximately 16 per cent of the country's electricity, while by 2020, according to the Energy Strategy, their share is to grow to 22-23 per cent. It is obvious that the Rosenergoatom concern does not have sufficient of its own funds to develop nuclear generation: Aleksandr Rumyantsev, head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), has pointed repeatedly to the funding shortfall. "We can concentrate resources abroad and construct five nuclear stations at the same time, as we are doing now, but at home we have insufficient money: The investment component in nuclear energy is enshrined in the nuclear power station tariff, and banks are reluctant to give loans to a federal state unitary enterprise," he explained to Kommersant yesterday.

The flotation of Rosenergoatom (the state will own all 100 per cent of the open joint-stock company) will resolve this problem, the concern believes. "Organizationally we are ready for a transformation. Of course, a number of questions remain with regard to the registration of property, but they can be resolved quickly," Rosenergoatom Executive Director Sergey Ivanov told Kommersant yesterday. But at the same time he pointed out that the concern's official appeal to the president and government to transform the federal state unitary enterprise into an open joint-stock company has not been prepared, since "the appropriate political will does not yet exist".

"This question has not yet been resolved," he summed up.

Let us recall that Rosenergoatom is on the list of strategic enterprises, and the decision to privatize it has to be made by the president. In addition, the government has to make corresponding amendments to a whole package of laws, including the law "On atomic energy", which prohibits the privatization of nuclear facilities. "We hope that the amendments will be formulated finally in the new year," Mr Rumyantsev pointed out yesterday.

Let us note that Rosatom will be faced with another serious task in the new year, to which Anatoliy Chubays, head of the Unified Energy System of Russia Russian Joint-Stock Company, drew attention at Thursday's session of the State Council Presidium. He suggested that Russian nuclear scientists study the question of switching nuclear energy to a more flexible system of energy supplies. "Nuclear energy means a constant base load, regardless of the time of day or day of the week. However, market conditions demand a flexible system for reacting to demand," Mr Chubays pointed out. He urged his colleagues to imitate the experience of other countries - France, for example, where the share of nuclear energy stands at more than 80 per cent and where successful use is made of a flexible system.

"So as not to create threats in nuclear power and to fit in with the new, market conditions, this question must be raised in earnest right now," Mr Chubays emphasized.