The Western European Union,the defence arm of the European Union, has pressed for prompt action by Russia to improve the security and safe operation of its nuclear power stations, calling for the West to help Russia modernise its nuclear industry.
A report for the WEU – which coordinates the armed forces of Europe – called for the promotion of “training for managers and researchers and especially for young scientists, in order to place emphasis on the security culture, to which our Russian partners…aspire.” The report also underlined the WEU’s concern about “the risks of theft and misappropriation of nuclear materials from civilian power plants and the temptations for the illicit transfer of technology.” Another recommendation was that the West should increase its scrutiny of co-operation projects which it had embarked upon with Russia over nuclear power, with “such controls to be capable of verifying both compliance with established targets and the proper use of funding granted.”
