— Before commencement of the project implementation, an independent environmental impact assessment must be carried out at the site, for it was the issue of environmental safety at Kostroma NPP that initiated the project suspension.

On October 30, the public hearings on draft statement of work for environmental impact assessment regarding the Central NPP will take place in Chistye Bory, Buyskiy District, the Kostroma Region. Deployment of the Central NPP was approved by the decree of the Head of Administration of Buyskiy municipal district in July 2008 and a resolution of the Kostroma regional administration in October 2008.

Ivan Andrievskiy, managing partner of 2K-Audit –Business Consulting, ICG:

To this day, the Kostroma Region has had no power shortage, moreover that the region sells some energy to the neighbouring regions. In this respect, the Kostroma Region has no urgency in NPP construction. However, the regional development plans contain provisions for construction of several large industrial power-consuming facilities, specifically, they are a pulp and paper mill, timber factory and a cement-mixing plant. Operation of these facilities will require additional energy supplies. Affluent power supplies of the region will make it attractive for some other investment projects. Besides, any surplus energy may be also sold to the other regions. Thus, the NPP may give another impetus to dynamic development of the region both in economical and social way. With due regard of all said above, Kostroma NPP project in the whole, looks like a very good opportunity for the region.

It should be mentioned that the very site in the Kostroma Region is very attractive for the investors. Some preparatory works have been completed by now, so it will ensure certain economy on the project investments. .

However, before commencement of the project implementation, an independent environmental impact assessment must be carried out at the site, for it was the issue of environmental safety at Kostroma NPP that initiated the project suspension. Thus, the careful environmental inspection is essential for the NPP construction.

ABOUT THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT:

Construction of the Central NPP is suggested at Buyskiy District of the Kostroma Region, 10 km to the northwest of Buy City, on the right bank of Kostroma River. At the Central NPP construction provisions are made for designing of the power-generating units #1 and #2 with the total capacity of at least 2,340 MWt. The rated capacity per 1 power-generating unit shall be at least 1,170 mWt (e); the service life of a power-generating unit shall make 60 years; power efficiency factor (net) is at least 34.7%; mean average operating ratio at the rated capacity – 0.92; predicted capacity factor for a power-generating unit – 0.90; auxiliary power consumption – under 7.0% of the total output; specific number of industrial and manufacturing employees providing maintenance services -0.43 pers./MWt.