Rosatom Can Produce Nuclear And Renewable Components In Parallel, Says Komarov

19 Jul (NucNet): Kirill Komarov, director-general of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said the company can use its existing production infrastructure to produce nuclear power plant and renewable energy components in parallel. In comments published on the Rosatom website on 18 July 2017, Mr Komarov said the company is investing in nuclear energy and any decision to invest in wind energy and the production of wind energy components would be “synergistic”. He said the company’s production facilities could be “loaded with orders” not only for nuclear power plants, but for the production of wind turbines. He warned, however, that this would require favourable investment conditions, although he did not elaborate on what he meant by this. He said energy sources needed to be “balanced” and noted that because of unfavourable weather conditions in Germany, which is pursuing a phaseout of nuclear power, renewable sources had sometimes accounted for only 5% of generation. According to the International Energy Agency, renewables account for a 3.6% share of total energy consumption in Russia, compared to more than 18.3% globally in 2014. Most of Russia’s renewables consist of hydroelectric. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Russia has 35 nuclear units in commercial operation accounting for about 17.1% percent of generation in 2016. It has six nuclear units under construction.