The environmentally friendly strategy from nuclear power in the focus of discussion at the AtomEco 2013 International Forum

The Forum is aimed to create a platform for discussions on environmental security of nuclear industry both in Russia and worldwide, particularly in respect of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

A distinctive feature of the event is open and parity dialogue among leaders of nuclear power industry and public environmental organizations representatives, as well as specialized agencies.

Sergey Kiriyenko, Director General of ROSATOM made a presentation at the Forum’s opening session. According to him, the environmental aspects of the nuclear energy industry are directly connected with its global development.

"The answer to the question about further development of the global nuclear industry was given at the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the XXI Century. Almost 90% of the participants of that conference spoke of their intention to develop nuclear energy," – he pointed out.

According to the head of ROSATOM, the essential condition for further development of nuclear energy is not only provision of safety of the existing and under construction NPPs, but also development of the public confidence in nuclear energy. This can be achieved by maximum reliability and availability of information about environmental impact of the nuclear facilities.

Mr. Kirienko also noted that from the environmental point of view peaceful atom possesses significant advantages. According to the example given in his report, total emission of all Russian NPPs is just over 1 thousand tons per year, while for one TPS this figure could be as high as 20 thousand tons per year.

"However, we are constantly increasing the environment protecting costs: if in 2011 these costs amounted to 10.7 bln rubles (appr. 340 mln US dollars) and in 2012 they were increased by 1.5 times and amounted to 15.7 bln rubles (appr. 492 mln US dollars)." – underlined Sergey Kiriyenko.

Oleg Kryukov, Director for Public Policy on RAW, SNF Management and Nuclear Decommissioning, ROSATOM told about zero harm strategy and steps taken by ROSATOM on the way to implement it. "The zero harm strategy is the policy of security for our business, of improvement the environment and minimizing the impact by reducing emissions to a level even lower than is permitted by standards," - noted Mr. Kryukov.

Due to his words, to achieve this target, the work is carried out in such areas as solution of the nuclear legacy problem, creation of the modern SNF and RW handling system, as well as modern methods of nuclear decommissioning.

Among the goals mentioned in his report were such points as:
•    excess of RW final disposal over its formation to 2020;
•    excess of reprocessing of SNF over its production.
The strategy also involves territorial optimization of waste storage, as well as a significant expansion of global cooperation in solving the problems.

Mr. Kryukov also stressed that the zero harm strategy is based not only on existing, but also on the developing technological base. And one of the key technologies that will facilitate the implementation of this strategy is the closed nuclear fuel cycle.
Vyacheslav Pershukov, Deputy Director General – Director of Directorate for Scientific and Technical Complex, ROSATOM told about the development of closed NFC technologies in Russia.

He said the closed nuclear fuel cycle will eliminate causes of many negative consequences of nuclear energy. It will give an opportunity to significantly reduce the amount of spent nuclear fuel and to refuse of transportation and direct disposal of irradiated fuel.
Mr. Pershukov pointed out, that ROSATOM’s task is to demonstrate by 2020 the possibility of using competitive technologies of closed NFC using lead-cooled fast reactor on experimental demonstration complex.

Bellona international environmental NGO and ROSATOM succeeded in building productive dialogue. Alexander Nikitin, the chairman of Bellona international environmental NGO underlined in his speech  at the 2013 AtomEco International forum that ROSATOM implements correct policy of openness in public affairs.

The situation with ROSATOM has changed significantly and this is thanks to the leadership of ROSATOM, which implement policy of contact with the public at various levels. 5-7 years ago it was difficult even to imagine that representatives of such organization as Bellona could stand on the podium, while Greenpeace representatives together with ROSATOM sit in the hall, said Mr. Nikitin.
“Now we have a pretty advanced dialogue with the ROSATOM’s departments”- Mr. Nikitin emphasized. He said that  all Russian nuclear industry enterprises prepare and submit environmental reports to the public. “We watch very carefully how the situation is changed, and I think that we are well advanced.”

“This year we were in Krasnoyarsk at the presentation of the report of Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC), and our group of well-known nuclear power opponents highly rated the MCC report. Of course, there is still much work to do. But all of this raises the level of public confidence in the nuclear industry,”- said Mr. Nikitin in conclusion.

Within, in addition to ROSATOM’s representatives of Russian and international agencies, such as the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (NEA OECD), top managers of Russian and foreign companies as well as representatives of Russian and international environmental organizations took part in 10 sessions of the Forum’s business program. The Forum was attended by delegates from 18 countries.  At the exhibition 31 companies presented their projects.