Russian atomic chief advocates creation of nuclear 'Gazprom'
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 02 09 06
The head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Rosatom, said on Wednesday
Moscow should consider creating a holding company on the lines
of gas giant Gazprom to bring together all firms in the civilian
nuclear sector.
"It is essential to reorganise, in part, the energy complex
... and perhaps we should create a vertically integrated holding
company," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Rosatom boss Sergei
Kiriyenko as saying.
The new company could be christened Atomprom, by analogy with
the vertically integrated gas group Gazprom, he added.
"Under current economic conditions, we have to position ourselves
on world markets and thanks to a structure of this sort we could
achieve a competitive position," Kiriyenko explained.
One of Russia's main international nuclear projects is a contract
with Tehran worth 800 million dollars (668 million euros) to build
a nuclear energy plant at Bushehr, southern Iran, supply it with
nuclear fuel for 10 years and take back the radioactive waste.
The project is complicated by western accusations that Iran is
trying to build a nuclear weapon under the cover of a civilian
atomic energy programme -- a charge vehemently denied by Tehran.
An Iranian delegation is set to arrive in Moscow on February 16
for talks on a Russian proposal to enrich Iran's uranium on Russian
territory as a way out of the international nuclear standoff.
The crisis intensified last week when the United Nations' International
Atomic Energy Agency reported the Islamic republic to the UN Security
Council, which has the power to impose economic sanctions.
Gazprom, which is more than 50-percent owned by the Russian state,
recently expanded its nuclear business. It acquired, via Gazprombank,
a stake of more than 50 percent in Atomstroiexport, the company
in charge of building the Bushehr plant. Gazprom already controls
75 percent of OMZ, a Russian industrial group that makes equipment
for nuclear facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced he would submit
to the Group of Eight summit in Saint Petersburg in July a proposal
to create an international nuclear centre in Russia, under the
aegis of the IAEA.
AFP
02/08/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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