OREANDA-NEWS. May 27, 2008. The Government of Mongolia has approved the idea of cooperation with Russia in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy, Prime Minister of Mongolia Sanj Bayar said during a visit to Trans-Baikal region, Russia.

He said that Russia and Mongolia were planning to jointly mine uranium in the territory of Mongolia. “No matter when we will start this work. What really matters is that we are restarting the cooperation stopped in the 1990s for a number of reasons,” Bayar said. He said that there were certain historical, economic and geopolitical circumstances urging Mongolia and Russia to start such cooperation.

At the same time, Bayar pointed out that the Russian-Mongolian cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy was yet unable to successfully develop because Mongolia had no legislation on uranium: “In order to successfully develop our capacities, we must elaborate a specific state policy as we are planning not only to mine uranium but also to build small nuclear power plants and Russia has unique — the world’s best — technologies in this sphere.”

Bayar said that in Sept 2008 the Parliament of Mongolia will restart its work and will most probably consider the possibilities for adopting a law on uranium. “I am impressed by the work of Priargun Mining Chemical Combine and we are going to adopt its methods of work in our own companies,” Bayar said.

The director general of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko accompanied Bayar during his visit. He thanked Bayar for the chance to visit a number of deposits in the north of Mongolia and expressed hope for further cooperation between Russia and Mongolia in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.