OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2008. The growing interest in nuclear energy in the world will be the key topic of the 52nd General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, starting in Vienna on Monday, IAEA Deputy Director General Yury Sokolov said during a press-conference today.

“Today, more and more countries are showing interest in nuclear energy. The growing interest in nuclear energy will certainly be mentioned by speakers at the general conference,” Sokolov said.

In the last years IAEA has been actively working to elaborate basic approaches to nuclear energy development for “newcomer” states.

Sokolov pointed out that nuclear energy development was not just a point in an electoral campaign but a task requiring, at least, 100 years of continuous work: the period from a decision to build a nuclear power plant to its commissioning takes 15 years, the service life — almost 60 years and the final stage – decommissioning and disposal of radioactive waste – 15–20 years.

Today, only nine states have full or almost full package of nuclear technologies: the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, India, China, Japan and South Korea, while as many as 30 sates use nuclear energy and 10 more wish to do it.

In this light, most of the “newcomer” states – particularly, the countries of the Persian Gulf — are considering the possibility of using BOO scheme for their NPP construction projects.

BOO does not envisage transfer of technologies but causes controversy concerning responsibility for nuclear damage. The international conventions say that a country hosting a nuclear facility should bear responsibility for nuclear damage.

Transfer of global experience of safety culture is also an important aspect “as any hypothetic accident in any country will have a negative effect on the others,” Sokolov said.

The conference will last till the end of this week. Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko will make a speech on the first day.