Moscow, Mar 13, 2006 -- BBC Monitoring

 

Russia needs to build at least 40 gigawatts of nuclear power generating capacity by 2030, Sergey Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, has announced.

"The minimum level for construction by 2030 in the Russian Federation is 40 gigawatts of nuclear power," he told an international conference on energy security. He stressed that development of nuclear power would be a vital task for the international community over the coming 20 years. He also recalled China's declared intent to build 100 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity, India 20 gigawatts and Ukraine 15 gigawatts. "By our analysis up to 600 gigawatts of nuclear capacity could be built worldwide in the coming 30-40 years," Kiriyenko said. Because of rising prices for hydrocarbons like oil and gas and the demands of the Kyoto protocol, developing countries will increasingly face the problem of obtaining clean and dependable energy, he said. "The international community will encounter two issues - the need for extensive development of nuclear energy and for compliance with the nonproliferation regime," Kiriyenko said, noting that Iran was a topical example in this regard.

Source: RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian

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