U.S. specialists to help develop Russian fast reactor
MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - U.S. specialists will take part in developing a Russian multifunctional fast research reactor (MBIR), said Vyacheslav Pershukov, deputy general director of Rosatom, the state corporation managing Russia's civil nuclear industry.
"We have signed a protocol on the participation of specialists from the United States in the research. Their investments are a point that is yet to be discussed. But they are ready to take part in the project by contributing their designs and their databases," Pershukov, who was recently appointed as head of Rosatom's science and technology directorate, told the Strana Rosatom (Rosatom Country) newspaper.
The MBIR project started off last year. The reactor is to be built by 2010. About 16.4 billion rubles is to be invested under the project, a 14.8-billion share of which would be state money.
The United States is not the only country where the project has evoked interest. "Many companies have shown interest - in France, the Czech Republic and South Korea, for example," Pershukov said.
As other projects go, Rosatom is preparing a contract with the United States' TerraPower on the use by the American group of Russian reactors in its research, and the Russian corporation is involved in a similar joint project with another U.S. company, Hyperion, he said.
Pershukov also said he had set himself the task of changing the management system of Rosatom's science and technology division. "There is an idea to unify institutes specializing in three fields - chemical technology, physics and energy, and electricity physics," he said, adding that there would be no legal restructuring.
The corporation also plans to set up research centers.
The division's new management structure will be clear "before the end of spring" Pershukov said.