Brussels, 02/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Against the backdrop of the EU/Russia Summit on Wednesday, Commissioner Philippe Busquin and the Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Alexandre Rumyantsev will be signing two nuclear co-operation agreements.
The first agreement aims to improve nuclear safety by launching cooperation between the EU and Russia in terms of reactor safety, radiation protection, processing nuclear waste, shutting down, decontaminating and dismantling nuclear plants, and R&D concerning the compatibility and monitoring of nuclear material. The co-operation will be implemented in the form of the exchange of technical information, exchanging staff between laboratories for training purposes, exchange of samples, material, instruments and devices for experimental purposes and for carrying out joint research and activities. Where necessary, it has been foreseen that the parties can arrange the implementation of financial mechanisms, the assignment of management responsibilities or an intellectual property rights system. In Russia, the agreement will be implemented by the Nuclear Energy Ministry. The activities carried out under the agreement will depend on the necessary finance available on either side, and will be managed by the side committing the finance. The agreements are for a ten year duration and can be tacitly extended for five-year periods, with the creation of a Joint Coordination Committee that will meet up each year (in the EU one year and Russia the next) to assess how the cooperation is progressing and decide on the specific tasks to be undertaken.
Using the structure of the first agreement as its model, the second agreement aims to pursue and intensify controlled nuclear fusion co-operation in order to extend scientific knowledge and technological possibilities, particularly when it comes to implementing the ITER programme (whereby the EU, Russia, Canada and Japan will together create a reactor). Co-operation will cover the following research areas: how plasma behaves in current generation (and the next generation) tokamaks; areas other than tokamaks; magnetic fusion technology; plasma theory and applied physics; devising policy in terms of plans and programmes; and other areas as mutually agreed by both parties. The means by which this cooperation will be implemented are identical to those selected for the nuclear safety agreement, with two exceptions: the Coordination Committee's decisions must be unanimous (common agreement for decisions under the safety agreement); and the agreement has an initial duration of five years, which can be tacitly prolonged every five years.