IAEA Director General Commends Russia’s Role in the Development of the Global Nuclear Power Generation Market and Non-Energy Peaceful Nuclear Applications

IAEA Director General Yukia Amano inspected several Russian nuclear facilities as part of his visit to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Mr Amano visited the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, where he was introduced to the operation of the revamped power units and inspected the new launch-ready Generation 3+ VVER-1200 unit of the NPP.

During his visit, Mr Amano was accompanied by Deputy Director General at the IAEA, Head of Nuclear Power Department Michael Chudakov, Rosatom’s Deputy CEO for International Relations Nikolay Spasskiy, Permanent Representative of Russia to international organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov, and Deputy Head of Rostekhnadzor, Russian technical regulatory authority, Alexey Ferapontov.

During his visit, Mr Amano expressed his high opinion of the Leningrad BPP’s safety systems, commenting that the new power unit comes originally equipped with additional protection systems compared to earlier projects. ‘The VVER-1200 unit’s multi-level produces a very powerful impression – in the event one system fails, another comes into effect, which is very correctly done, Mr Amano noted.

Earlier, Mr Amano visited the manufacturing facilities of the Baltic shipyard and construction site of New Gen icebreakers, including the Arktika, a nuclear icebreaker which is the future flagship of Russian icebreaker fleet.

Addressing the media at the conclusion of his visit, Mr Amano commented that Russia is contributing greatly to the IAEA’s work, both in the field of nuclear power and non-energy nuclear applications. ‘Nuclear power is the cleanest and most environmentally friendly method of energy generation in terms of its minimum greenhouse gas emissions. The development of nuclear power is crucial to improving society’s welfare, and it will continue. Russia is a very active player in this process,’ he said.