New Delhi
11 April 2006
There are good prospects and opportunities for nuclear energy
cooperation between strategic partners India and Russia, according to the head of
Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (or Rosatom), Mr Sergei V Kirienko.
Cooperation with India was a priority for Russia and looked forward to certain "specific
decisions" being taken on new areas of collaboration after the Nuclear Suppliers Group
amends its guidelines, he told this newspaper.
On his first visit (April 6 to 10) to India, Mr Kirienko visited Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram,
the Kudankulam nuclear power plants near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and also
managed to make a sightseeing trip to Agra.
Mr Kirienko observed that the NSG needed to change its attitude towards India because
she has an "impeccable reputation" on nonproliferation. Also, countries including India
would want to harness nuclear power for energy security.
"True energy security cannot be provided without developing nuclear power," he said
and felt India has set the right example for other countries to follow. (Recently, the
government okayed the setting up of eight more reactors.)
Russia, he said, has considerable experience in building fast breeder reactors by
involving uranium-238 for related activities. There was also scope for other joint
activities since India was working on using thorium as a fuel.
On Iran, Mr Kirienko said it was possible to take steps to implement peaceful uses of
nuclear energy for Tehran and called for combining the Russian proposal (of fuel
centres) with the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership of the United States.
"Our position on Iran is a principled one," he said. "Iran has the right to develop civilian
nuclear energy; that is the indisputable right of any country. At the same time, the
international community has some rights too.
"The world has the unconditional right to demand guarantees under the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) regime. The task ahead is to combine these two rights. We
believe it is possible," he observed.
Mr Kirienko also said a joint working group has been set up to monitor the progress of
the Kudankulam project. "We expect it to be commissioned as soon as possible while
fully adhering to the safety norms," he said.
"When commissioned, [Kudankulam plants] will be a matter of pride for [us.] There are a
number of new, updated technological decisions that have been incorporated in this
project," he added.
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