The restructuring
of the Ministry of Atomic Energy, from approximately
3000 to 600 employees, was not an easy task. Would
you say that this has made your Ministry a much
more efficient organisation?
The answer to this question is always twofold. On
the one hand, the reduction of headquarters always
means that some of the functions will pass over
to certain enterprises, entities or Joint-Stock
companies, which represents a positive trend.
On the other hand, the nuclear industry is a highly
technological industry which also includes sensitive
nuclear production. In the context of rapidly changing
Russian legislation, the atomic energy sector is
adjusting to changes and it is a big job for us
to effectively manage major changes in the industry
from our headquarters.
Therefore, on the whole I favour the reduction of
the staff, but this process should be accompanied
by a change in legislation where the enterprises
attain enough freedom to develop their business
together with scientific research and development.
Plans for the development of nuclear power in
Russia in first half of the 21st century were endorsed
by the Russian government last year, and the Ministry
now intends to build 25 new nuclear plants over
the next 20 years. Could you tell us about your
development plans, and your strategy to attract
international investors to finance these projects?
Amendments to the atomic energy law have been adopted,
which allows us to import spent fuel into the Russian
Federation. Further the amendments were scrutinised
by the Federal Council and confirmed by President
Putin, and the essence of these changes is that
we have obtained support on the part of Russian
producers to supply fresh fuel to countries worldwide.
The contradiction in the original law consisted
in the fact that, while supplying fresh fuel, we
were not allowed to import fuel back when it was
spent. Thus we would infringe our international
commitments on non-proliferation of separable substances.
Yet in the spent fuel there is a percentage (however
small it might be) of nuclear plutonium which can
be used for military purposes. Through adoption
of these amendments the contradiction was eliminated
and thus it has enabled us to work in the international
market with existing agreements which permitted
both the exporting and importing of spent fuel.
In terms of our program for atomic sector development,
last year we launched a Nuclear Power Plant in Volgodonsk.
This year, after the reconstruction, we have started
the operation of a block of Nuclear Power Plants
in Kursk. Next year we will start operating yet
another block of Nuclear Power Plants in Kalinin,
and in the coming years we intend to start two new
blocks every three years.
Meanwhile, I understand that there are plans
to extend the service life of the country's existing
nuclear power plants. How are you using new technologies
and other strategies to increase capacity, while
ensuring that safety is maintained?
A vivid example is the Nuclear Power Plant in Novovoronezh.
Last year, after two years of experiments, we increased
the service life of the plant by up to 15 more years.
All necessary material-based tests of equipment
parts were conducted. The operation system of the
nuclear reactor was fully reconstructed, both in
terms of electronic and mechanical aspects of the
reactor, and the personnel was taught on special
training equipment to operate the plant. We have
been licensed for the first years of operation and
in principle these experiments allow for prolongation
of the plant's service life by 15 years.
One of your most important international projects
is the "Megatonnes to Megawatts" project,
(for the transfer of uranium), which represents
major investments between Russia and the US. Could
you tell us about the current status of the project?
This project is beginning its new phase. The provisions
of this project are in the final stage of discussion
by the governments of the U.S. and Russia. I believe
that in May 2002 the project will be signed for
the coming 10 years by both governments.
The project is really impressive. Practically all
my life I have been working in pure research and
in pure science the craziest ideas turn out to be
most successful. Initially, when the project was
announced, no one believed that it would be successful.
Besides the political constraints it is a very complicated
in terms of the technology. You have to remove the
warheads from their location; then the next step
is extracting weapon uranium charges; then you have
to transform it into gas condition - uranium hexafluoride
(UF6) - and you need to lower enrichment from the
military level to the nuclear plant level. Then
you have to fill in special transportation containers,
to transport them from our plants to corresponding
warehouses in the USA, and the American party returns
the natural condition to uranium. The product of
this cooperation is separation work. Then in the
USA uranium is extracted from the uranium hexafluoride.
And out of this uranium the fuel elements for the
nuclear power plants are produced. Although transportation
is very costly and complicated (using railway and
shipping transport systems), it is affordable to
both governments. The first decade of the project
is over and for the next ten years we are signing
up a similar program.
Thus the military uranium of Russian origin will
be operated in the nuclear power plants of the USA.
This is an example of fruitful collaboration between
the U.S. and Russia in a sensitive area like nuclear
power.
In 1999, Russia's 29 existing nuclear reactors
produced 14% of the nation's energy needs last year.
So how important will atomic energy be to make up
for possible shortages in energy supplies, and what
do you think the percentage of atomic energy will
be in the next 10 years?
We plan increase our share to up to 20% by 2010.
But even today that we account for 15% of power
volume in Russia, and in the European part of Russia
the figure goes as up high as 30 %, since it is
a most industrially developed region with many industrial
consumers.
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I understand that you have announced plans to
market nuclear power plants to countries in Asia
and Africa, and the Ministry has already sold plants
to Finland, India, China and Iran... Is this part
of an new international business strategy?
In Finland a nuclear power plant was built around
20 years ago, and up to now the plant has been working
safely so we are participating in a bid for the
construction of another nuclear power plant. We
really are building two blocks in China, we have
build a plant in India, and in about 2 years a block
of atomic plants will be put into operation in Iran.
There are also plans to extend existing nuclear
power plants in the countries of Eastern Europe,
such as Czec Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary
An attempt was made in 1991 to incorporate all
these activities into a single, State-owned nuclear
corporation, "Atomprom". This proposal
has recently been re-activated. Will it happen?
Globalisation processes and companies of scale are
always useful to succeed in the international market.
As a first step we have united all the Atomic plants
under one generating company. Now the ten Russian
nuclear power plants are under JSC RosEnergoAtom.
As for further consolidation of our commercial program,
this represents a two-sided coin: Creating a huge
company in the form of a JSC is undoubtedly useful
for raising investments and competitive development,
yet on the other hand we always have to bear in
mind that our military nuclear complex has to be
in state-of-the-art technological condition.
So a priority challenge is to find the right combination
to satisfy our commercial aspirations while maintaining
a safe defence system.
You have come from a scientific background, yet
now you are dealing with business circles and complex
political issues. How have you managed to adapt
to the rigours of these challenges, and do you think
your scientific background helps to support your
working style?
From the inside I can not see whether I have adapted
or not - that is to be seen from the outside. As
for my background it really helps a great deal,
because when you are a scientist you always have
to learn. And today I continue learning - doing
business, communicating with businessmen, politicians,
so this a new stage of my scientific career. Besides,
I am not solely from the scientific sphere, since
I was the director of the Kurchatov Institute for
seven years, so in fact I already had some administrative
experience when I took office.
What would be your final message to our readers,
bearing in mind that they are potential investors?
Our nuclear power complex shows sustained development
in recent years. We have all necessary industrial
facilities and high qualified personnel, and a unified
company has already been created for the generation
of energy and heat.
We therefore encourage investments from all business
circles. It is a promising sector, and we plan to
construct nuclear power plants both in the domestic
and in the international markets by covering our
costs, paying down our credits and gaining profitability.
BIOGRAPHY OF ALEXANDER RUMYANTSEV
By the act of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
on March 28, 2001, Mr. Alexander Rumyantsev was
appointed the Minister of Atomic Energy of the Russian
Federation.
A. Rumyantsev was born on July 26, 1945 in the town
of Kushka (Turkmenskaya Socialist Republic).
From 1963 to 1969 he studied in Moscow Institute
of Engineering and Physics and specialised in the
physics of solids.
From 1969 to 2001 he worked in the Russian Scientific
Centre "Kurchatovsky Institute" (the Insitute
of Atomic Energy named after I.V. Kurchatov.) From
1994 worked as the Director of the Centre up to
the date of his appointment as Minister of Atomic
Energy of the Russian Federation.
Rumyantsev is Doctor of Science in Physics and Mathematics
(1988), Professor (1996)
In 1986 he received the State Award of the USSR.
In 1997 he was elected a correspondent member of
the Russian Academy of Sciences (specialisation
- physics), in 2000 - elected a member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, the department of General Physics
and Astronomy (specialisation - physics).
A. Rumyantsev is a prominent research scientist.
The subject of his major work is the physics of
solids through methods of neutron scattering. His
works on phonon spectrums of metals, alloys and
compounds by using the method of neutron scattering
brought him fame worldwide. On this subject over
100 scientific articles have been published in Russian
and foreign journals. In the recent years the major
subject of Rumyantsev´s research work is the
behaviour of high temperature superconductors gridwork.
Alexander Rumyantsev is a member of the Public Council
of Science, attached to the Committee of the Education
and Science of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly
of the Russian Federation. He is a member of the
Board of the Russian Nuclear Power Society, along
with many other Russian and foreign scientific councils,
editorial teams of scientific magazines.
Note: WINNE cannot be held responsible for the
content of unedited transcriptions.
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