News
Publish date: November 17, 2004
News
On October 22, one of Putins trusted aides, Sergei Prikhodko, was appointed as a new chairman of the TVEL Corporation, Russias sole nuclear fuel trader. Prikhodko, who has served as a foreign policy counsellor to Putin, has been working in the Kremlin since 1997, MosNews reported.
TVEL has a 17 percent share of the global nuclear fuel market. It supplies fuel to 75 nuclear reactors worldwide, including plants in former Soviet republics and in Eastern Europe. It is also preparing to start shipments to China, Iran and India.
Appointment of Prikhodko seem to follow the tradition that emerged in the last few months. Installing Vladimir Putins closest people as managers of Russian state energy companies has become traditional practice, the liberal Kommersant daily wrote on October 23, following Prikhodkos appointment.
Earlier this year MosNews reported that Igor Sechin and Vladislav Surkov, also trusted aides of Putin, were appointed to chair state-owned Rosneft Oil Company and pipeline firm Transnefteprodukt, respectively. In addition, Dmitry Medvedev, Putins chief of staff, serves as the chairman of the state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom.
Following Kazakhstan’s country-wide vote in favor of building a nuclear power plant earlier this month, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has begun a courtship of officialdom in Astana, the country’s capital, in apparent hopes of landing a contract to construct it.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
Kazakhstan voted in a referendum last weekend on whether to build its first nuclear power plant, and an exit poll showed voters backed the idea promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's cabinet in an effort to phase out coal plants.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.