MOSCOW, Jan 20, 2006 -- AFX News - UK

 

Russia hopes to sell and construct between 40 and 60 nuclear power reactors abroad over the next quarter century, the head of the Russian atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, said.

Development plans target the building of "at least 40 nuclear reactors in Russia between now and 2030 and we will also have the possibility to submit tenders for another 40-60 orders on the world market," he said in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Russia is currently building three stations on home territory and another five abroad, including the controversial site at Bushehr in Iran, he said.

The United States and the European Union suspect that Iran is using its Russian-backed civilian power project to mask a secret bomb-making programme, sparking a tense diplomatic row between Tehran and the West.

Russia has offered to handle the enrichment of Iran's uranium supplies as part of an effort to ease fears that Iran could turn the civilian technology to military purposes.

Kiriyenko said that an Iranian delegation would visit Moscow "in the near future" for detailed discussions on the plan. He described Moscow's policy in Iran "as an example of how nuclear energy should be developed in the world," according to a statement from the atomic agency.

According to Kiriyenko, 16 percent of electricity in Russia is currently generated by nuclear power and this should rise to 25 percent by 2030.

In 2004, the atomic agency earned 3.16 billion dollars in export revenues, the atomic agency's statement said.

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