Stefan Meister, Program Officer for Russia/Eurasia of the German Council on Foreign Relations

– Russia’s nuclear industry is experiencing renaissance

Public hearings on the environmental impact assessment of the construction of the 3rd and 4th units of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant-2 took place in Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad region) June 16. Almost 600 people – representatives of the administration and the legislative assembly of Leningrad region, political parties, non-governmental organizations, mass media and manufacturing companies as well as residents of Sosnovy Bor – took part in the discussion.

Many power companies having sufficient funds will invest exactly now (when we are experiencing a global financial crisis) because now construction and resources cost less. In the mid-term future the energy demand will grow — the present decline is just a short-term reaction to the crisis. So, in this respect, NPP construction is a good long-term investment.
 
The public hearings on the Leningrad NPP-2 project have shown that the Russian Government has become more attentive to possible public fears and cares for what people think. This is part of their energy strategy. They are going to build a certain number of reactors a year till 2030. Today, Russia’s nuclear energy is experiencing renaissance.

The construction of LNPP-2 is part of the federal target program for the development of the energy industry of Russia 2007–2015 approved by the Government of the Russian Federation on Oct 5 2006. The total cost of the project is almost 70bln RUR. The project is analogous to the units built by Russian specialists at Tianwan NPP in China – WWER-1000. The 1st unit is to be launched in 2013.