Rising global demand for nuclear power
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Fazle Rashid
MOHAMMAD ElBaradei director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN nuclear watchdog, counselled calm on both sides and asserted that the confrontational posture of the US and Iran on later's nuclear ambitions needs to be defused urgently. ElBaradei of Egypt stopped short of saying the confrontation could lead to a military conflict.
If diplomatic pressure is not brought to bear upon Iran, it will be in a position to produce three nuclear bombs a year. Experts suspect that Iran could sell its nuclear expertise to rogue states, being one itself, as Pakistan traded its nuclear expertise.
The United States and European nations have frequently expressed grave concern over nuclear proliferation but have failed to bring Russia and China into their line of thinking. There is a rising global demand for nuclear power mainly from the developing countries and the Russian nuclear power company Atomstroyexport is doing a booming business and helping Iran build its nuclear programme, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
There is a nuclear renaissance, Sergei Shmatko, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Atomstroyexport, said the company is building seven nuclear reactors in Iran, China, Bulgaria and India with which the US has a nuclear deal. The Russian company is doing better nuclear business than Westinghouse and GE of the USA, Siemens of Germany and Areva of France. Westinghouse is also building four new reactors in China, More than 26 nuclear power plants are under construction worldwide now. The world is poised for another boom in construction reminiscent of the '60s and '70s, regardless of what America and Europe may think about it, NYT said. One nation after another is seeking alternatives to the fossil fuels that are culprits in global warming, the paper opined.
The Russian company is negotiating with Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Namibia, Morocco, South Africa, Algeria, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Atomstroyexport expects to do business of $5.0 billion to $10 billion in the next two years.
On the other hand, lone US company USEC which began uranium enrichment some 70 years ago is struggling to survive and leaving the gap to be filled by the Russian company. The US invented the process and used it to build the bomb that destroyed Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.
MOHAMMAD ElBaradei director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN nuclear watchdog, counselled calm on both sides and asserted that the confrontational posture of the US and Iran on later's nuclear ambitions needs to be defused urgently. ElBaradei of Egypt stopped short of saying the confrontation could lead to a military conflict.
If diplomatic pressure is not brought to bear upon Iran, it will be in a position to produce three nuclear bombs a year. Experts suspect that Iran could sell its nuclear expertise to rogue states, being one itself, as Pakistan traded its nuclear expertise.
The United States and European nations have frequently expressed grave concern over nuclear proliferation but have failed to bring Russia and China into their line of thinking. There is a rising global demand for nuclear power mainly from the developing countries and the Russian nuclear power company Atomstroyexport is doing a booming business and helping Iran build its nuclear programme, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
There is a nuclear renaissance, Sergei Shmatko, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Atomstroyexport, said the company is building seven nuclear reactors in Iran, China, Bulgaria and India with which the US has a nuclear deal. The Russian company is doing better nuclear business than Westinghouse and GE of the USA, Siemens of Germany and Areva of France. Westinghouse is also building four new reactors in China, More than 26 nuclear power plants are under construction worldwide now. The world is poised for another boom in construction reminiscent of the '60s and '70s, regardless of what America and Europe may think about it, NYT said. One nation after another is seeking alternatives to the fossil fuels that are culprits in global warming, the paper opined.
The Russian company is negotiating with Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Namibia, Morocco, South Africa, Algeria, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Atomstroyexport expects to do business of $5.0 billion to $10 billion in the next two years.
On the other hand, lone US company USEC which began uranium enrichment some 70 years ago is struggling to survive and leaving the gap to be filled by the Russian company. The US invented the process and used it to build the bomb that destroyed Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.