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Three Russian nuclear power plants to be upgraded with grant from EBRD-administered Nuclear Safety Account
Three Russian nuclear power plants, Leningrad, Kola and Novovoronezh, will undertake urgently needed short-term safety upgrades with grants totalling ECU 76 million from the Nuclear Safety Account, which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on behalf of 14 donor countries and the European Union.
The grant agreements were signed today by Victor Mikhailov, Minister of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation, Yury Vishnevsky, Chairman of the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of Russia (Gosatomnadsor), representatives from the nuclear power plants and Rosenergoatom, the major Russian nuclear utility, and Ron Freeman, First Vice President of the EBRD.
Mr Freeman said: “These agreements represent the basis for renewed cooperation between Russia and its Western partners regarding nuclear safety and the application of modern standards, where feasible, on these old plants. This is an urgent task and the Russian plant managers must now get on with the work to effectively and efficiently implement the projects.”
Of the total grant, Leningrad will receive ECU 30 million, Rosenergoatom ECU 45 million, and the Safety Authority ECU 0.9 million. The projects will assist Russia in implementing its safety upgrading programmes in the short term, including through specific support for the Safety Authority. In the meantime, the situation of all VVER-230 and the oldest RBMK nuclear units will be systematically re-examined by the Russian authorities to assess their safety and the economic need for their continued operation at improved levels of safety. Western and Russian experts will cooperate on these issues.
In addition, the Kursk 1 Unit, which is currently out of operation, will not restart before 1998 and reactivation would only be possible on the basis of an in-depth safety assessment performed in cooperation with Western experts and provided that a new licence is issued. The Government intends to reinforce Gosatomnadsor’s role and to introduce new licensing practices for nuclear plants.
The projects will be implemented by the nuclear power plants, which will set up Project Management Units including international experts in procurement, accounting and project management. Engineering and design work will be performed by Russian engineering companies. Procurement of equipment for the project will be undertaken through open tendering among donor countries and east European firms, including from Russia. An indemnity statement is included in the main agreement which should ensure a satisfactory indemnification of suppliers. Completion of the projects is expected by end-1997.
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