Russia, Japan Have Begun Nuclear Cooperation Talks

April 26 (EIRNS)--The first round of talks between Russia and Japan on cooperation in the nuclear power industry began on April 26 in Tokyo, a Japanese diplomatic source told RIA Novosti. Russia 's Federal Nuclear Power Agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko and a delegation of nuclear industry experts visited Japan April 10-12 and agreed to start negotiations on the mutually beneficial use of nuclear energy for civilian purposes. The sides are expected to discuss further steps in the development of a draft agreement on peaceful nuclear energy use.

Kiriyenko earlier said he hopes that the agreement could be signed as early as by the end of 2007, and said that Japanese companies could be invited to join a project to build a nuclear power plant in the Russian Far East. Russia's state-controlled Rosenergoatom consortium, in charge of Russian nuclear power plants, said in mid-March it was considering building two nuclear facilities in Russia's Far East after China said it would like to buy from Russia up to 30 billion kilowatt hours of electric power annually.

Rosenergoatom oversees Russia's 10 nuclear power plants, whose 31 reactors generate about 17% of the nation's total electricity output. President Vladimir Putin has recently called for that amount to be raised to 25% by 2030.

Russia 's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, Atomstroyexport, implements intergovernmental agreements to build nuclear facilities abroad. It is the world's only company simultaneously building five nuclear power units--in China, India and Iran. In October 2006, the company won a tender to build a plant in Belene, Bulgaria.