I have touched on this important development before, but it appears that Russia is set to become a major player in the world nuclear power game through the creation of Atomenergoprom, which President Putin has said: "will be a vertically integrated entity and unite the entire atomic technological cycle - from the production of uranium and nuclear fuel to the construction, operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants." Now this is highly significant, since there is no counterpart anywhere in the world to this enterprise which would control all aspects of the Russian contribution to world nuclear power, presumably including providing enriched uranium to Europe and potentially (if they accede to this option) to Iran in order to break the threat of sanctions imposed by the UN.
This holding will enable Russia to beat its competitors on the world board of nuclear "Monopoly" and the initiation of the enterprise is expected to be complete by January 2008, in the form of a joint stock company owned wholly by the government. Russia has great strength in its natural resources, and has made determined efforts to consolidate and retain its gas and oil production and infrastructure within Russian control, even to the extent of sending some who would act against this aim to prison for significant terms. This appears to be a follow-on strategy to consolidate the share of nuclear resources, and in combination of all these sources of energy, Russia will indeed be a force to be reckoned with, in the shifting politics of the new world order, which must depend ultimately on who owns what and how much in terms of primary energy resources.
Fifty-five different unitary enterprises will be made corporate and subsumed into the holding by the 1st of December 2007, collectively including the means to mine uranium, process it, fabricate it into fuel-rods, build power plants and ultimately knock then down again at the end of their working life, including the final disposal of nuclear waste and radioactive components of decommissioned nuclear power stations. It is thought that isolated nuclear energy companies may well go to the wall against the competition from the international markets, for example large trans-national companies including French-German Areva and Siemens and the alliance between the US and Japan, Westinghouse-Toshiba.
The plan apparently does not include the creation of weapons-grade nuclear materials (HEU or plutonium), but as a force in the ongoing and undeniable economic war which has been described as the real (hidden) WWIII, mostly being fought over resources, it is a mighty launch indeed.
Related Reading.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/prnt/htm1?newsID=11482592
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