Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom and the Kuwait National Nuclear Energy Committee (KNNEC) have signed a cooperation agreement in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The memorandum was signed at the 54th IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria on 20 September.
Director general of Rosatom, Sergey Kiriyenko said that Russia is ready to assist Kuwait in development of the civil nuclear power programme, including exploration and mining of uranium, training of personnel, research, as well as in construction of nuclear power plants, if the country’s authorities make such a decision.
Russia is actively cooperating with several states in the Middle East, Kiriyenko said. Rosatom is bidding to build a nuclear power plant in Jordan and also plans to take part in a tender to build an NPP in Egypt, which is to be called shortly. In addition, an intergovernmental civil nuclear cooperation agreement has been signed with Bahrain and nuclear cooperation with the UAE is developing.
Armenia deal
In August, Russia also signed an intergovernmental agreement with Armenia for the construction of a new unit at the Metsamor nuclear power plant.
Under the agreement, Russia could contribute 40% of the financing for construction of two new units. The deal would be based on a build-own-operate (BOO) model, according to Nikolay Solomon, deputy director general for finance and economics at Rosatom, whowas speaking at the World Nuclear Association’s annual symposium in London on 16 September 2010.
The BOO model has been applied to construction in Turkey, where the Russian party owns 100% of the project company that builds the plant, and then owns, operates and maintains the plant, selling its electricity. Russia has a deal with the Turkish government to guarantee power supply for a period of 15-20 years.
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