OREANDA-NEWS. May 14, 2009. During a meeting in Tokyo on May 12 2009 Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Hirofumi Nakasone signed an inter-governmental agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The agreement was signed in the framework of the working visit of Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin to Japan.

The document is aimed at creating a firm legal basis for the dynamically developing Russian-Japanese cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The agreement covers a wide range of activities: prospecting and mining of uranium; engineering, construction and operation of light water reactors; processing and treatment of radioactive waste; nuclear safety and ecological control; study and use of radio-isotopes and radiation.

Now the agreement is to be ratified by the Russian and Japanese parliaments.

PRIORITY PROJECTS

One of the key projects is the possibility of building a low enriched uranium storage facility in Japan by Japanese Toshiba and Russian Atomenergoprom. This facility will guarantee stable fuelling of Japanese nuclear power plants.

“We have agreed with Toshiba that this joint venture should be opened for Japanese power companies and that part of its shares should belong to consumers,” Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko said during a press-conference in Tokyo.

Japan has 55 nuclear reactors, which have a total capacity of 47,500MW and almost 25% share of the total electricity production.

This is not the only project though. Kiriyenko said that the singing of the Russian-Japanese inter-government agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy would pave the way for lots of other agreements.

“I, first of all, mean the supply of low enriched uranium for Japanese nuclear power plants: here we have 10-year contracts worth several billions of US dollars,” he said.

Since 1999 Russian Techsnabexport (100% subsidiary of Atomenergoprom OJSC) has supplied Japan with low enriched uranium. Today, Russia meets almost 15% of Japan’s demand for enriched uranium. This share is steadily growing and is expected to amount to 25% by 2014.

“We are also negotiating joint uranium prospecting and mining projects with Mitsui, Marubeni and a whole number of other Japanese companies. We have invited them to cooperate in the field of natural uranium prospecting and mining in Russia, more specifically, in Southern Yakutia, as well as in third countries, for example, in Mongolia,” Kiriyenko said.

The parties are also considering joint projects in the Far East, particularly, involving RusAl. The Russian Government supports this initiative, Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin said during a press-conference in Tokyo.

A source from the Russian delegation has told Interfax that the question is about RusAl’s and Rosatom’s projects to set up a power-metallurgical group in the Far East (a nuclear power plant and an aluminum plant) as well as the construction of Tayshen and Boguchan aluminum plants in Eastern Siberia.

During Putin’s visit the parties also concluded an agreement for cooperation in the field of elimination of Russian nuclear weapons subject to reduction and on the construction of a storage facility for the reactor compartments of dismantled nuclear submarines in the Russian Far East.

In the framework of the Global Partnership program Japan finances the dismantlement of Russian decommissioned nuclear submarines. One Victor I, three Victor III and one Charlie I submarines have been dismantled under this program since 2004 with two more Victor IIIs to be destroyed this year. The total cost of the project is \\$50mln.

Meanwhile, no progress has been made yet under the initiative to jointly build a uranium enrichment plant based on Russian technologies and situated in Japan or a third country. In mid Mar 2009, a year after the signing of a framework agreement, Atomenergoprom and Toshiba said that they were ready to discuss that idea.

NONPROLIFERATION GUARANTEES

Kiriyenko also said that the Russia-based International Uranium Enrichment Center would be shortly provided with the guarantees of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would ensure nonproliferation in the field of Russian-Japanese nuclear cooperation.

This will offer Russia and Japan 100% guarantees that no part of their cooperation will ever or in any way be used for military purposes.

Reception of 100% non-proliferation guarantees is one of the key components of the Russian-Japanese cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.

“We want to be sure that everything Russia supplies will never be used for military purposes – even in third states. Our Japanese partners want the same,” Kiriyenko said.

“If we want to take part in the global nuclear energy market, we must comply with the criteria of openness and transparency. The civil sector of Russia’s nuclear industry will be absolutely open and meets all international transparency standards,” Kiriyenko said.

He said that IAEA safeguards inspections in the powers owning nuclear weapons were senseless “per se.”

So, one can hardly expect that IAEA will shortly set control over a big number of Russia-based facilities, first of all, because this is not IAEA’s goal. The first facility to be placed under IAEA’s control will be the International Uranium Enrichment Center in Angarsk.