Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to the west Siberian
city of
Tomsk
in freezing temperatures on Thursday said nuclear energy development
was a national priority, in particular as an instrument for combating global
warming.
"This is an absolute priority for our power grid development, power
generation development and the development of energy potential," Medvedev
said at a meeting with local students.
He said nuclear energy development also followed the goal of switching
to green technology in the fight against global warming. However, he said
temperatures in
Tomsk
which were under 20 below zero Centigrade (-4 Fahrenheit) during his
visit, contested the global fear.
"When I visit here, I wonder if all that talk about global warming
is an intricate campaign designed by a number of large businesses to promote
some commercial projects," the president said jokingly.
Tomsk Region Governor Viktor Kress, who attended the meeting, recalled
government plans to build a nuclear power plant in
Tomsk
in 2015-2017,
but said the project had been delayed.
"Anyway, once it is mentioned in our program, we will certainly
build it, because our power sector has no future without nuclear energy,"
Medvedev said.
Soon after his appointment as head of Russia's state-run nuclear power
corporation Rosatom in 2005, Sergei Kiriyenko announced an ambitious program to
increase the country's share of nuclear energy generation to 25% by 2030 from
the then 16%-17%. He also said Rosatom planned to build up to 40 new reactors
at a cost of $60 billion to achieve the goal.
Kiriyenko said last spring that Rosatom's subsidiary, Atomstroyexport,
was building 14 NPPs in various countries around the world with plans to sign a
number of new contracts in the near future.
(from Ria Novosti)