LIKHACHEV: ROSATOM PLANS TO BUILD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ON THE MOON

MOSCOW, OCTOBER 16 /SRNA/ – Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2035, its Director General Alexey Likhachev has said.

"We are working on this project jointly with the Kurchatov Institute. By the middle of the next decade, we must build a nuclear power plant on the Moon that would enable a base on that celestial body to operate," Likhachev said.

He noted that Rosatom was considering supplying floating nuclear power plants to countries in Asia and Africa, and had already signed an agreement with Indonesia, the first of its kind in the world.

"We have signed an agreement with Indonesia to supply two floating nuclear power plants, and we are holding negotiations with several other countries in Southeast Asia and Africa," Likhachev told the press on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week in Moscow.

He said Rosatom was also making progress on the construction of the Paks II nuclear power plant in Hungary, a project that appeared to have stalled following the change of government in Budapest.

"A thorough review of the project and the customer is currently underway on the Hungarian side. As decent people, we are waiting for that review to be completed," Likhachev said.

He added that Rosatom had an approved production programme for this year, which it was successfully implementing, RT Balkan reported.

"It amounts to somewhere between 408 million and 410 million Euros," Likhachev said.

Paks is Hungary’s only nuclear power plant and generates almost half of the country’s electricity. It consists of four reactor units, while the Paks II project plans the construction of two additional units.