Energy News  
Russia To Build Nuclear Centre In Sanctions-Hit Myanmar

The nuclear centre in the current deal with Myanmar (Burma) will be under the control of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. It will be operated by Atomstroiexport, a Rosatom subsidiary, without giving a date for when the project would be built. The centre is to include a laboratory for the production of medical isotopes and a complex of buildings and equipment for the reprocessing and burial of nuclear waste, Rosatom said.
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) May 15, 2007
Russia said Tuesday it had agreed to help build a nuclear research centre in Myanmar, the Asian state run by a military junta that is under European and US economic sanctions. "The agreement foresees cooperation in the design and equipping of a centre for nuclear research in Myanmar," including a small light-water nuclear reactor, Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom said in a statement.

Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko and Myanmar's Science and Technology Minister U Thaung signed the deal for construction of the centre on Tuesday in Moscow, the statement said.

The deal is the latest example of Russia doing business with a country shunned by the West as authoritarian and is likely to further dent rapidly deteriorating relations with Washington and the European Union.

Myanmar is under US and European economic sanctions imposed in response to rights abuses by the country's military dictatorship and the house arrest of 61-year-old democracy icon and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Washington has accused the Myanmar regime of torturing, raping and executing its own people as well as waging war on minorities and looking the other way while drug and human trafficking grows.

The impact of the sanctions has been weakened by countries such as China, India, Russia and Thailand, which are spending billions of dollars to gain a share of Myanmar's vast energy resources.

Russian companies recently signed oil and gas contracts with Myanmar. In one deal, Russia offered arms to the regime in exchange for access to energy reserves, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported last year.

Russia has also supported Myanmar diplomatically. It joined China in January in vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution urging Myanmar's rulers to free all political detainees and end sexual violence by the military.

In recent years, Russia has consistently dealt with regimes considered unfriendly by the United States, such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, raising the ire of Washington.

Russia has also angered Washington by providing Iran with civilian nuclear technology amid international fears that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.

The nuclear centre in the current deal with Myanmar will be under the control of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Tuesday's statement said.

It will be operated by Atomstroiexport, a Rosatom subsidiary, the statement said, without giving a date for when the project would be built.

The centre is to include a laboratory for the production of medical isotopes and a complex of buildings and equipment for the reprocessing and burial of nuclear waste, Rosatom said.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Email This Article

Related Links
Rosatom
Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

Regulator To Ask US Experts For Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimate
Moscow (RIA Novosti) May 16, 2007
Russia's mineral resources watchdog said Tuesday it will ask the American Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) to provide estimates of Russia's hydrocarbon reserves according to SPE procedures. The Federal Agency for the Management of Mineral Resources said it is primarily interested in estimates of reserves in areas without transport infrastructure.







  • Powered By Sound Revolutionary Stove Could Help Reduce Poverty
  • Researchers Identify Compounds When Making Cellulosic Ethanol
  • Russian Pipeline Monopoly Takes Over Oil Product Transit Firm
  • Bush Vies To Wean US Off Foreign Oil

  • Russia To Build Nuclear Centre In Sanctions-Hit Myanmar
  • Regulator To Ask US Experts For Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimate
  • Japan Sees Advantage Of Nuclear Deal With Russia
  • Russia Sparks Up Tianwan First Unit

  • Widespread Twilight Zone Detected Around Clouds
  • Rand Says Further Study Warranted On Save The World Air Technology
  • Noxious Lightning
  • AIM Heads For Orbit

  • Global Scientists Urge Canada To Save Boreal Forest
  • "Reducing Emissions From Deforestation" Initiative Launched
  • Reducing Tropical Deforestation Feasible, Affordable And Essential
  • Curbing Deforestation By Half Key To Global Warming Fight

  • Decimation Of Bee Colonies Has Various Possible Causes
  • Asia Fears Chinese Greens
  • Netherlands Refuses GM Corn Shipment From US
  • New Knowledge Improves Rice Quality

  • The Driving Force Behind Electric Vehicles
  • Radical Engine Redesign Would Reduce Pollution And Oil Consumption
  • Intelligent Cars As Fuel-Efficient As Hybrids
  • China Automobile Dream A Nightmare For Climate Change

  • Australia Fears Jet Flight Guilt Could Hit Tourism
  • Nondestructive Testing Keeps Bagram Aircraft Flying
  • New FAA Oceanic Air Traffic System Designed By Lockheed Martin Fully Operational
  • NASA Seeks New Research Proposals

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement