Rosatom, Indian farmers planning to create centers for irradiation of crops
MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - LLC United Innovative Corporation (the wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom) and Hindustan Agro Co-Op Limited, an Indian agricultural organization, signed an agreement on the development of a network of infrastructural centers for irradiating crops.
Rusatom International Network, a firm of Rosatom, said in a statement that the project envisages the gradual creation and development of a network of integrated infrastructural centers for irradiation in India under the management of a Russian-Indian joint venture.
At the first stage, the construction and commissioning of seven irradiation centers in India is expected. As part of bilateral cooperation, the expansion of the network of centers in the UAE, Mauritius and Malaysia is possible. The irradiation will be carried out in doses, recommended by the International Atomic Energy Association, and the final product is completely safe. Radiation does not reduce the nutritional value of the products and does not change their organic components or outside appearance.
"The radiation processing of food is one of the ways of using modern radiation technologies, offered by Rosatom to its foreign partners. The use of this technology permits on average reducing losses of onions in India by 42,000 tonnes a year, which today become unfit for consumption due to germination or unsuitable storage, and also reduce the loss of grain from 15% to 3%-5% a year," United Innovative Corporation head Denis Cherednichenko was cited in the statement as saying.
Today about 515 radiation installations with the use of Russian technologies are used in 22 countries, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Japan, China, South Korea and India, Cherednichenko said.
United Innovative Corporation was created in 2011. The company engages in radiation medicine, the creation of multifunctional irradiation centers and also ecology.
