Russia Still Committed to Nuclear Power

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is paying a working visit to France, where scheduled talks in Paris include discussions with Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

Putin met members of the Franco-Russian Dialogue association, where one of the main issues discussed was the need for both countries to develop their nuclear energy sector, Russian official state television channel Rossiya 1 reported.

Putin told his audience, “For a country like France where nuclear energy accounts for almost 80 per cent of the energy package structure, it is simply unrealistic to reject it. It is absolutely unrealistic, irrespective of your wishes. Despite the tragedy in Japan, we are gradually implementing our plans to increase the share of nuclear energy in Russia from the current 15-16 per cent to 20. We will be developing this sector.”

The Russian Federation currently has a total installed capacity of 224,541 megawatts with a nuclear capacity of 22,693 megawatts. The Russian Federation currently maintains 32 operating nuclear reactors which are Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) and Light Water cooled Graphite moderated Reactor (LWGR) models, which in 2010 generated about 159 billion kilowatt hours.

In 1986 the USSR suffered the world’s worst nuclear disaster to date when a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl Ukraine exploded during testing.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com