Russia and U.S. to conduct joint stress tests at nuclear plants

Russia and U.S. to conduct joint stress tests at nuclear plants

2011-03-25 05:12:37 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- Russia and the United States on Thursday agreed to conduct joint stress tests at nuclear plants in both countries due to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, General Director of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko said.

"The U.S. and Russia decided to conduct stress tests of reliability of nuclear power plants, and we agreed on cooperation in this matter," said Kiriyenko during the final day of his visit to the U.S.

The head of Russia's state nuclear energy cooperation, met with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. On Wednesday, Kiriyenko held talks with Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Ponemanom.

Kiriyenko added that experts from both countries will conduct the stress tests and that the two governments are responsible for developing solutions for the global atomic energy sector.

On Thursday, the Rosatom chief announced a Russian-U.S. joint project to construct a uranium enrichment facility in U.S. soil. He also proposed a deal in which Rosatom's mining arm, known as ARMZ, will pay $610m to raise its interest in Uranium One from 17 percent to 51 percent.

Russia intends to use its proposed majority stake in Canada's Uranium One as the starting point for Rosatom's expansion in uranium extraction. However, the joint project of the uranium enrichment facility cannot go ahead until a U.S.-Russian civil nuclear cooperation agreement put before U.S. Congress in May is approved.

Kiriyenko stressed that the Fukushima nuclear crisis taught nations that "the basic condition for the development of the global nuclear energy are the absolute openness of the process and the absolute guarantee of security for the population in any circumstances."

The Rosatom head also called for providing all necessary help to Japan to solve the ongoing crisis. He remarked that in order to avoid future nuclear disasters appropriate technical and economic decisions are required, including common rules and norms of transparency.

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