During his recent state visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin, attended the opening day of the exhibition, VIII Russian-Chinese Expo, in Harbin. Putin and the Deputy Chairman China Han Zheng familiarised themselves with the key achievements of many years of cooperation between Russia and China in the field of nuclear technology. These were presented by Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, who was part of the large delegation of Russian political leaders and businessmen who accompanied Putin during his visit.
The exhibition was held at the International Congress and Exhibition Centre in Harbin (Haylunjiang Province). The event was organised by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the People’s Government of Heilongjiang Province, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry & Trade of the Russian Federation.
“Over the past 25 years Rosatom and Chinese partners have achieved a high level of relations,” Likhachev said. “The volume of mutual obligations is more than $23bn. Successfully implemented projects include construction of four power units at the Tianwan NPP, which demonstrate some of the highest performance indicators in the world. Four more nuclear power units at two sites are under construction. Rosatom has a complete chain of advanced solutions in the nuclear fuel cycle, which allows the supply of fuel and nuclear power plant products for a growing nuclear power plant park in China.”
Other promising areas of strategic partnership were identified, including the development of the energy of the future including Generation IV reactors as well as projects in the field of nuclear medicine. Likhachev also outlined the range of solutions for the development of technological sovereignty, including logistics. Rosatom announced the creation of a sub-committee on the development of the Northern Sea Route within the framework of the Russia-China Inter-governmental Commission, which Likhachev will lead together with the Minister of Transport of China, Li Xiaopen.
“In 2023, transit along the Northern Sea Route between Russia and China amounted to 2m tonnes. We see the potential for increasing this indicator more than 20 times – to 50m tonnes by 2030. We also work with our partners on a number of infrastructure projects to facilitate use this global highway.”
Putin, during a meeting with Chinese and Russian students and teachers of Harbin Polytechnic University, noted: “Harbin University is a forge of personnel for the Chinese nuclear industry and, by the way, its graduates are actively involved in the implementation of Rosatom’s projects for the construction of Russian-designed power units at the Tianwan NPP and Xudabao NPPs in China. The construction of these important energy facilities is proceeding in full accordance with the schedule.”
