Rosatom Head Seeks To Extend Russia's Nuclear Science Development Program By 2030

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2021) The chief of Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom on Tuesday proposed to extend its program of the technological and scientific development in the field of atomic energy use in Russia by six years to 2030, to increase the share of nuclear energy in the country's energy balance.

"What is outlined now in the program is limited to 2024. On the one hand, it is necessary to extend this program at least until 2030. The second [task] is to add there the groundwork and scientific developments that Mikhail Valentinovich [Kovalchuk, a prominent Russian scientist] spoke of, and the third is to lay the foundations for implementing the decision of President [Vladimir Putin] to increase nuclear power generation from 20 to 25%. This is the 'Nuclear Project 2.0'," Alexey Likhachev said.

The F-1 nuclear reactor, built in Moscow by the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" in 1946, will mark its 75th anniversary on December 25.

The device became the first nuclear reactor in Europe to achieve a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. To commemorate the anniversary, Kovalchuk, the president of the research center, proposed launching the "Nuclear Project 2.0."

"Amid the promotion of the Western concept of climate warming and the promotion of a low-carbon economy against this background, and this is actually a weakening of our well-being, I think that we should come up with a proposal for a new nuclear project. The fact is that in the carbon-free economy that we are being promoted, in fact, the easiest way is safe nuclear energy, " Kovalchuk explained.

The current problem in nuclear development, up to 2023, is aimed at strengthening Russia's leading position in the global nuclear industry, ensuring its energy security, and accelerating its technological advancement in a wide range of areas.