Atomic Energy Ministry's plans for 2003

To complete the construction of the power-generating block at the Kalinin nuclear power plant and to put it into operation will be the major tasks of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry in 2003, said the ministry's head Alexander Rumyantsev at a briefing in Moscow.

Another important issue will be preparation for the international conference on nuclear materials handling within the IAEA framework, the minister pointed out. "We are preparing an agreement on utilization of waste materials, meaning pollution of testing grounds by domestic waste, for example, medical and other equipment that contains radioactive substances," he explained.

"2003 will be the year of 'global partnership' for industrialists. We will draw the necessary diplomatic, economic and judicial documents to help us to establish partnership relations with foreign nuclear facilities soon," Rumyantsev went on.

"And, finally, we will work on the research program for developing nuclear physics and other scientific directions, as well as on projects of creating a nuclear power plant of a new generation, for example, one working on high-speed neutrons. Thus, we intend to construct a variant of this power-generating unit at the Beloyarskaya nuclear power plant," the minister concluded.