Russia is to resume construction of the Bashkir nuclear power plant in Bashkortostan. The project which was mothballed in 1991 as a result of local public pressure. The director of the new plant, Vladimir Dmitriev, said a 1000MWe VVER reactor would be installed and “expert studies” are due to be completed within four or five months. The unit will be commissioned in 2010. The Bashkortostan authorities said in 1997 that the project could be revived and in recent years a new town has sprung up close to the proposed plant site bringing with it an unemployment problem.
