Rosatom Offering Serbia Russian or Int’l Nuclear Power Plant Project, Director Says

Alexey Likhachev (BETAPHOTO/Ministarstvo ruradstva i energetike/Nenad Kostic)

Rosatom general director Alexey Likhachev said in Belgrade on Feb. 23 that the Russian atomic energy state corporation was ready to offer Serbia a number of options for projects to build a nuclear power plant, based on Russian technology or as part of an international consortium.

Likhachev said after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that the Russian agency could make a "99-100-percent Russian plant" in Serbia, or "execute it as an international consortium" with the fullest possible participation of suppliers, and that it was open to international collaboration.

Vucic said in an Instagram post after the meeting that he and Likhachev had discussed possibilities in using nuclear power in pharmaceutics, health care and energy, and the possibility of Serbian companies participating and receiving training to apply nuclear energy in third countries.

Likhachev also told reporters that Rosatom was completely prepared for any sanctions from the European Union, the Russian wire service RIA novosti reported.

Likhachev emphasized Rosatom's expertise in all areas of nuclear power, adding that the corporation's work was in demand both domestically and abroad. He said the agency had a number of international partners waiting to execute projects in nuclear power and in other areas.