Russia or France? Serbia is planning a nuclear power plant and tempting world giants

Dubravka Djedović Handanović, Minister of Mines and Energy of Serbia, announced the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, which could be built before 2040. Russia's Rosatom has expressed its readiness to get involved in the project, Reuters reported.

Djedović Handanović held a meeting in Belgrade with a delegation of the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, headed by its general director Alexei Likhachev. The minister admitted that Serbia cooperates with the French company EDF in the preparatory phase for the development of its nuclear programbut is also open to cooperation with other technology providers.

“After institutional, regulatory and personnel training, we will be able to choose a partner, a technology supplier and start the construction process so that the nuclear power plant will be online by 2040,” said the minister, quoted in her ministry's statement.

Likhachev, in turn, presented Rosatom's experiences to the Serbian sideas well as projects implemented by the concern. He emphasized that Rosatom is currently working on about 30 large and small power units in nine countries, including China, India, Egypt, Turkey and Hungary. He added that cooperation with Serbia could include the exchange of experience and knowledge within a joint working group.

The director of Rosatom, quoted by Reuters, also said that Moscow is ready to offer Serbia a nuclear power plant project based on Russian technology as part of an international consortium. “We can make the power plant a 99-100 percent Russian product, we can implement it as part of an international consortium, with the maximum involvement of suppliers,” Likhachev told journalists after a meeting in Belgrade with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Serbia currently obtains 70 percent. electricity from coal, but has committed to phasing it out completely by 2050.

Jakub Bawołek (PAP)

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