OREANDA-NEWS. July 9, 2007. Federation Council Committee on Natural Monopolies has discussed nuclear energy development programs

During its meeting at Leningrad NPP the Federation Council Committee on Natural Monopolies discussed the prospects of nuclear energy development in Russia.

On the first day the commissioners visited Leningrad NPP and the construction sites of spent nuclear fuel storage facility-2 and Leningrad NPP-2.

On the second day, representatives of Rosatom, Tostekhnadzor, designer- and supplier-companies, local authorities and NGOs made reports on the legislative aspects of the Federal Target Program “Development of Nuclear Power Industry of Russia in 2007–2010 and -2015.”

Deputy Director General of Rosenergoatom-Director Development Alexander Polushkin and Deputy Director General of Rosenergoatom-Director for Personnel Management and Social Security Jumberi Tkebuchava made a joint report on the course of the Federal Target Program and the performance of the contractor organizations. The rapporteurs pointed out the following problems:

— the necessity to stop the practice of repeated licensing: once license is issued it should be valid for the whole period of construction; 

— the necessity to reduce the period of feasibility study from 7 years to 1 year due to innovative technologies.

The Committee approved a number of recommendations for executive authorities on how to speed up the Federal Target Program. Particularly, Rostekhnadzor and Rosatom were recommended to adopt standard design documentation for one-type nuclear power units for the period of their construction.

The Committee recommended to draft a package of amendments to the existing legislation (first of all, to the Civil Code), particularly, to introduce the concept of “engineering” as a new form of legal relations as well as to make some specific changes to the laws N53 and N94 with a view to tailor them to the needs of the nuclear power industry.

While commenting on the federal law on the use of nuclear energy (N94-FL), Polushkin said: “This law is a market law, but nuclear power engineering is not a market industry as here safety is superior to economy. So, we need more flexible and well-balanced approaches.”

During the subsequent press-conference, the first vice chairman of the FC Committee on Natural Monopolies Valentin Mezhevich said: “In fact, we need to redouble electricity production at our NPPs and this is a new stage of accelerated development.”

“We have revealed a number of bottlenecks that can curb our development. So, we have considered ways to overcome them. It is not a coincidence that we met at Leningrad NPP: this is a model facility, a kind of litmus indicating all our problems and achievements. I am very satisfied with the results of the meeting. Now, we have what to do.”

Many commissioned stressed the necessity of creating a new system of nuclear project management.

The chairman of the Nuclear Energy Committee Grigory Naginsky said that LNPP-2 was far ahead of the other primary constructions projects.

He said that this project is crucial for Sosnovy Bor and Leningrad region and, if St.Petersburg Atomenergoproject does this work well, it will certainly get new orders under the FTP “road map.”

Some commissioners pointed out the necessity of revising the Federal Target Program and creating conditions for the unlimited operation of the Russian NPPs.

The acting director of Leningrad NPP Oleg Chernikov stressed the importance of the meeting. He said: “This meeting is supposed to foster the Federal target Program, which means development of nuclear power engineering, construction of substituting capacities, improvement of living conditions in NPP zones and in Sosnovy Bor, in particular. Each resident of Leningrad region, each employee of Leningrad NPP is interested in this program. In other words, this meeting is aimed at making our life better and this is important.”