Valentin Mezhevich, first vice chairman of FC Committee on Natural Monopolies

– Russian-French JV will be a stable source of modern turbines for new NPP projects

After the collapse of the USSR the only company producing low-speed turbines, Turbatom, was left in Ukraine. But even if it was here and worked at full capacity, it would not be able to supply as many turbines as our present program needs.

Of course, we could use the high-speed steam turbines produced by Power Machines but that plant will have enough orders from traditional power plants and will have no time and strength for us.

Today Altsom is one of the world leaders in low-speed turbine production. So, this JV is a stable source of modern turbines for our new NPP projects.

Despite its rather tough terms, this deal is very important for our nuclear power industry and is essential for its plans.

I think that many of the projects we are presently implementing, including ITER, are examples of global international cooperation working for the future of nuclear power engineering. I hope that in reactor building industry this process will also have effect.

I think that all these problems will be discussed during our guest meeting in Sosnovy Bor on July 4–5.