Toronto, 25 April – The Board of Management of the World Nuclear Association (WNA) elected Kirill Komarov, Rosatom’s First Deputy CEO for Corporate Development and International Business, for the position of Vice Chairman. The Board of Management defines WNA’s strategic objectives and is involved in the development of the Harmony Program aimed at increasing the share of nuclear power in the global energy mix up to 25% by 2050.

“The election of a Russian candidate as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Management means recognition of Russia’s achievements in nuclear on the global scale,” says Vladimir Gutenyov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship. “For the last few years, Rosatom has turned into a leader in nuclear technology development. In 2016, the company was awarded construction contracts for 34 nuclear power units outside Russia. In financial terms, this ten-year contract portfolio is worth more than 130 billion US dollars. On the domestic market, Rosatom outperformed the competition by launching the world’s first Generation 3+ unit at Novovoronezh. The unit is fully compliant with the latest safety regulations, including the post-Fukushima requirements. In Russia, the nuclear power industry has long been associated with professionalism and cutting edge technologies, maintaining public acceptance of the industry at a persistently high level of over 70%. Russia is the world’s only country to operate commercial fast neutron reactors (BN-600 and BN-800 at Beloyarsk NPP). This technology holds much promise in terms of closing the nuclear fuel cycle and creating a nuclear power industry of the future. It is no coincidence that Russia’s Yekaterinburg, which is situated near the Beloyarsk NPP, will play host to a fast breeder technology forum to take place this summer under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Association,” he noted.

The World Nuclear Association was formed in London in 2001 and now includes 170 member companies from 38 countries, including France, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, South Korea, USA and many more. WNA is the largest international organization to unite nuclear fuel service providers, engineering and nuclear construction vendors, and transport companies operating in the nuclear power industry.