Yekaterina Tripoten, analyst of Sovlinsk IC

– It is necessary to do something not to lose Russia’s place in the nuclear sphere

In 2010 the Government of Russia will continue to implement its federal target programs and will adopt several new urgent programs, particularly, a program to develop modern nuclear technologies. On July 30 Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin said that there were a number of critical spheres where the state could not afford making a pause. A pause would mean a setback and renouncement of the development priorities announced by the government.

No wonder that the Russian Government is going to continue these programs. When President, Putin kept saying that it was necessary to develop nuclear energy and to increase the share of nuclear energy in Russia’s total power production and even specified ways how to do it. 

The decision to continue the programs proves that the Government takes nuclear energy seriously and realizes that we must be active now so as not to fall behind the other states and not to lose our place in the nuclear sphere. Development of nuclear energy is a global tendency. So, in order to diversify its economy, Russia must support its nuclear technologies, especially as we have achievements in this field and can hope for quite a big share of the world nuclear market.

These measures are also part of the policy to reduce the domestic consumption of gas and to increase its export. If we are able to meet the growing home demand due to nuclear energy, we will be able to sell more gas to the West at European rather than Russian prices.