Russia plans big nuclear expansion
Leading the globe in construction of new plants, it also hopes to export as many as 60 plants in the next two decades.
from the July 17, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Surveys suggest that Russian public opinion has shifted somewhat in favor of nuclear energy since the post-Chernobyl nadir in the 1990s. But many people remain skeptical.
A recent poll by the state-run VTsIOM agency found that just 27 percent of Russians want to see new nuclear-power plants, while 42 percent support keeping the 31 reactors already operating. Just 19 percent were completely opposed to atomic energy.
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Not in my back yard
But, according to the online newspaper Gazeta.ru, 70 percent say they're strongly against any atomic station in their own neighborhood.
Though there's talk of technology breakthroughs, such as breeder reactors that produce more fuel than they use, the new stations to be built and exported are basically pre-Chernobyl Soviet designs that have safety systems added on. Russia is currently building seven nuclear stations abroad – more than any competitor – in Iran, China, India, and Bulgaria.
In addition, atomic officials say they're in talks with at least a dozen developing countries, from Algeria to Vietnam, about buying Russian reactors.
"We are world leaders in developing nuclear technology," says Sergei Novikov, spokesperson for RosAtom, the official atomic-energy agency. "We are major innovators in safety systems, and new reactors we are building are among the most secure in the world."
Worries of proliferation
The planned floating nuclear stations have attracted fierce criticism. "These platforms will need to be protected by warships to prevent anyone getting near them; they are much less secure than land-based stations," says Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of Eco-Defense, a Russian environmental group. Since they use fuel that's been enriched to 20 percent (nuclear fuel for most civilian reactors is about 4 percent), "they pose a clear risk of proliferation," he warns.
Russian experts say the units have been offered to Persian Gulf states, where they could be used to run desalinization plants, as well as to such countries as Indonesia, Algeria, Malaysia, and Argentina.
Some Russian sales successes, such as the $1 billion Bushehr nuclear station in Iran, have prompted allegations that Moscow is already providing dangerous technologies to rogue regimes.
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