Rosatom, IAEA to form international reserves of n-fuel in Angarsk.

MOSCOW, March 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Director General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukio Amano and chief of the Rosatom State
Corporation Sergei Kiriyenko will sign an agreement on forming
international reserves of nuclear fuel in Russia's Angarsk for the nuclear
power plants in the IAEA states at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on
Monday, the Rosatom press service told Itar-Tass.

"This agreement will be useful for the IAEA states, which have delays
in the low-enriched uranium supplies. These reserves are a key aspect of
Russia's initiative to guarantee nuclear fuel cycle services," the press
service said.
"This initiative implies the establishment of international centers,
which will provide such services and will ensure an equal access to atomic
energy for all countries concerned in strict compliance with the nuclear
non-proliferation regime," the press service of the Russian state
corporation said. Rosatom recalled that "the pilot international uranium
enrichment center was formed at the premises of the Angarsk uranium
enrichment plant in 2007 in fulfillment of the initiative."
"The Russian government suggested forming guaranteed reserves of 120
tonnes of UF6 enriched at 2-4.95% in Angarsk on IAEA guarantees," the
press service reported. "Russia will cover the expenses of using this
uranium stock by the IAEA states, who experience delays in low-enriched
uranium supplies," the Rosatom press service specified.
Rosatom also recalled that "the idea of forming international reserves
of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants has been discussed for a long
time." After the Vienna meeting with the then IAEA Director General
Mohammed ElBaradei at the 52rd session of the IAEA International
Conference in 2008, Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko noted that "Russia has
made a practical step to solve this problem, proposing to establish such a
center in the Russian city of Angarsk."
Then Kiriyenko noted that Russia is not just ready to make some
allocations, but also can guarantee the stock of low-enriched nuclear
fuel, which will be sufficient for reloading a power unit with the
capacity of 1,000 MW. The chief of the Russian nuclear industry pledged
that the guarantee reserve of nuclear fuel at this center "will be stored
under the IAEA control at a plant, which will also be kept on guarantees
and under the IAEA control."
According to him, this means that there is a guarantee for any country
that if for some reasons this country does not have access to the free
purchase of nuclear fuel for its nuclear power plants, the IAEA Board of
Governors can decide to pass this nuclear fuel stock for two reloadings to
a country, which meets the international requirements for
non-proliferation and security."
"We are ready to cover the full cost of producing this kind of fuel.
Menawhile, not in terms of money that is to be invested into fuel
production, but in concrete fuel loadings, which can be taken at any
moment and delivered to any nuclear power plant in the world," Kiriyenko
specified. Rosatom also reported that "last November the IAEA Board of
Governors has approved a corresponding resolution on Russia's initiative
to form guaranteed nuclear fuel stock that IAEA Director General Yukio
Amano was to sign such agreement with Russia."
According to Kiriyenko, the forming of a guaranteed stock of enriched
uranium at the international uranium enrichment center under the IAEA
aegis should contribute "to a stronger non-proliferation regime of nuclear
weapons, a broader use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, should not
undermine the market mechanisms in the peaceful atomic energy use, should
be in line with a concept on multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel
cycle, as well as meet the standards and security measures taken by the
IAEA, as well as the physical protection rules."
Rosatom recalls that Russia and Kazakhstan established the
international uranium enrichment center in Angarsk in 2007 at the premises
of the Angarsk electrolysis chemical plant and that any country can join
the center without any political conditions. Armenia and Ukraine already
expressed intentions to join the center. In January 2008, the IAEA was
informed officially about putting the international uranium enrichment
center on the list of Russian nuclear fuel cycle enterprises, at which the
IAEA guarantees can be applied.

.Monument to great Russian poet Pushkin unveiled in Tskhinval.

TSKHINVAL, March 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The Monument to great Russian poet
Alexander Pushkin was unveiled in the capital of South Ossetia on Sunday.
The Russian company SMIK from the city of Kropotkino presented Pushkin's
bust made by sculptor Alexander Appolonov. The bust was unveiled in
Pushkin Street in downtown Tskhinval, where the monument to the poet was
situated, but was destroyed during Georgia's aggression.
"The South Ossetians will always honour the genius of the Russian
poet," South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said at an unveiling
ceremony. "Pushkin's legacy, as well as a rich Russian culture should
contribute to the spiritual development of our people in the future," he
underlined. "I am confident that the world will be cleaner and kinder from
this. There will be less violence and human sufferings in the world,"
Eduard Kokoity said.
According to representative of the SMIK Company Natalia Vostretsova,
"The gift was made to Tskhinval under the Alley of Russian Glory program
seeking to revive Russian culture and patriotism."
This is already not the first example of cooperation between the
company and South Ossetia. After August 2008 in commemoration of all
Russian warriors, who protected the people of South Ossetia, SMIK
presented a bust of heroically perished Major Vetchinov.
-0-baz


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next