Kamchatka to enhance buildings' resistance to earthquakes.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 20 (Itar-Tass) - The implementation of
a programme to enhance the resistance of buildings to earthquakes has
begun on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
This year, at the first stage, it is planned to do work to reinforce
50 apartment houses here, an official in the press service of the
Kamchatka Territory (KT) government told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Sergei Gamov, KT Minister of Construction, said earlier that,
beginning from 2010, the KT would begin to receive 1,000 million roubles
every year to reinforce the buildings of kindergartens, hospitals,
schools, and other social facilities. Houses that are designed to
withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of not more than seven points are
to be reinforced as well. Their seismic resistance is to be raised for
them to withstand earth jolts measuring up to nine points. The buildings
are to be jacketed for warmth-keeping and repaired.
KT Governor Alexei Kuzmitsky pointed out in earlier remarks, "We
believe that it would be a logical and right thing to do not only to
enhance the seismic resistance of old buildings but also build new safe
housing".

.Rostov ecologists worried by damage to fish by river ships.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 20 (Itar-Tass) - Rostov-based ecologists from the
Azov fishery research institute intend to estimate damage inflicted on the
Don River fish -- such as sturgeon, pike-perch, bream, and other fishes
--- by river-going ships.
In the estimate of Alexander Manatskov, director of the department for
the proteciton and use of wildlife species and aquatic bioresources of the
Rostov Region, under the impact of mounting technogenic effects, the
condition of the ecosystem of the lower reaches of the Don River becomes
increasingly alarlming wih every passingyear while the standard of fish
stocks can be described as critical.
Intensive shipping, which grew from 3,000 ships in1995 up to 15,000
ships in 2008 in the lower reaches of the Don over the past decade alone
resulted in a critical state of the water bioresources, Manatskov said.
Before 2000, the region used to catch 16,000 tonnes of fish in the
Azov-Black Sea basin, including about 3,000 tonnes of valuable fishes.
However, over thepar nine years, fish catches dwindled to 10,000-13,000
tonnes and those of valuable fishes down to 1,500 -2,000 tonnes. The
catching of sturgeons has been prohibited since 2000 while that of
pike-perch and bream decreased by a factor of 100.

.RF-China JV to make lithium-ion batteries in Novosibirsk.

BEIJING, April 20 (Itar-Tass) -The first Russo-Chinese joint venture
(JV) is to be established in Russia to produce modern lithium-ion
batteries. A relevant agreement was signed here on Tuesday by Anatoly
Chubais, General Director of the ROSNANO State Corporation, and Lu
Shaoping, Managing Director of the Chinese Thunder Sky Company (TSC).
Chubais emphasized, "This is an important step which is the starting
point in cooperation between the two countries in the field of nano-scale
technologies. In essence, a new page is opening up in our interaction".
"At present, we hear mainly about deliveries of Chinese consumer goods
to the Russian Federation and about the sale of Russian energy resources
to the People's Republic of China (PRC). There is nothing bad in this.
However what we saw during our first day of stay in China indicates that
the potential of our cooperation in the sphere of nanotechnologies is
simply enormous," Chubais said. The rapid development of the PRC, he
stressed, provides an opportunity for the two countries' joint actions in
this respect.
Under the project, a plant is to be built in Novosibirsk to comprise
four production lines of the TSC. The plant will create over 500 jobs in
the sphere of high technologies. It will turn out batteries that are
designed for buses and minibuses with electric motors.
Chubais explained, "A strategy for transport vehicles' transition to
electric motors is obvious and it already predominates in many countries.
Out country's lagging behind in this respect must be eliminated. This is
why we evaluate this project as a large-scale and strategic one".
The start-up of production in Novosibirsk is scheduled for the end of
2011. The plant's output will have a guaranteed sales market for the
coming four years, since the TSC is planning to buy out the bulk of the
output to ensure the filling of contracts with Chinese manufacturers of
motor vehicles. Subsequently, as demand rises, it is planned to deliver
the plant's output to the Russian market as well. Thus, for example, the
first successful experiments to convert Gazel vehicles to the use of
electricity have been already carried out.
A science and technology center is to be also set up under the
project. Both sides expect that the use of the existing achievements of
Russian scientists in the field of nanotechnologies will make it possible
considerably to improve the technical characteristics of storage batteries
of the TSC and create new market niches in the field of their application.
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