The document was signed by Rosatom’s Deputy CEO Nikolai Spassky and Tekreth Kamrang, Cambodian Secretary of State and Deputy Chair of the National Council for Sustainable Development. This agreement continues the countries’ earlier initiatives in civil nuclear. Last May, Rosatom and Cambodia’s National Council for Sustainable Development signed two memorandums to establish a nuclear power information center in the country and a joint working team on peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The information center will help raise Cambodia’s public awareness of nuclear power and prospects of developing the national nuclear industry, and increase the popularity of engineering sciences. The first meeting of the Russian-Cambodian working team on nuclear energy was held in August 2016 in Phnom Penh.
The new agreement creates a legal framework for the development of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Cambodia. The document provides for the cooperation in nuclear education and staff training, fundamental and applied research, use of irradiation technologies in industry, medicine, agriculture and environmental protection. It also opens up the prospects for long-term projects, such as construction of Russian-designed nuclear reactors in Cambodia. The parties have agreed to form a steering committee that will be in charge of the agreement’s implementation.
In countries with no nuclear background, civil nuclear projects serve as a catalyst for their hi-tech development. Rosatom offers an integrated approach to the creation of national nuclear industries in customer countries, including construction and maintenance of research reactors and commercial power units, joint research projects, workforce training for national nuclear industries, cooperation in nuclear and radiation safety, and assistance in creating relevant regulatory framework. Newcomer countries usually start their civil nuclear programs with building low-capacity research reactors to implement projects in medicine, agriculture and industry.
A similar agreement was signed at the IAEA General Conference between Russia and Paraguay.
