SOCHI (Russia), Nov 22 (NNN-KBC) — The 12th edition of the Atomexpo international forum, a major event in the global nuclear industry, opened Monday at the Park of Science and Art Sirius in the city of Sochi, Russia.
The forum which is an exhibition and business platform for discussing the current state of the nuclear industry, was finally held three and half years after the previous edition in 2019. The break had been occasioned by disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Rosatom, the state nuclear energy corporation which is organizing the forum, confirmed that participants drawn from various fields and coming from more than 50 countries, including from Africa, are taking part. Their mission in the two-day conference is to discuss the role the nuclear energy is playing in solving the tasks on the global nuclear agenda and the contribution of nuclear technology to achieving the UN Sustainable Developments Goals.
“I am confident that this forum will be a very good start for conversations on how we can manage to further developed atomic energy and further develop the peaceful atom for the good of humanity,” said Rosatom Director general Alexey Likhachev.
Even though the Atomexpo took a break of more than three years, Likhachev disclosed that all was not lost amid revelation that indeed a great deal has been happening in the nuclear industry.
“Those years were not easy times for the planet…. but there is good news. For all of these three years, nuclear energy has been actively developing. Nuclear family has been enlarging, and facilities for nuclear infrastructure has been create,” he said during the opening ceremony.
His deputy and the Director of Department of Nuclear Power Engineering Mikhail Chudakov, said the need for nuclear power cannot be overemphasized. He cited the world population that recently crossed the 8 billion mark as one of the major reasons to diversity energy sources.
Taking into account the energy crisis facing the world and the needs of clean energy, Chudakov said there is an urgent necessity to increase investments in nuclear power for the next three decades ‘more than six times.’
“It means we have to start construction every year, not 5,6, or 7 new units of (nuclear) reactors, but more than 20 units every year… we need to increase nuclear power by almost 870 gigawatts electric. It means that we need to create more than 600 installed gigawatt capacity and even more,” he said
Africa 4 Nuclear lobby group founder Princy Mthombeni called on more and more countries to embrace nuclear noting that “nuclear energy with not only present the countries with power, but also with water desalination, nuclear medicine and agriculture,” even as she noted that there is an increase in the number of people, especially the youth, who are developing a keen interest and making inquiries about the opportunities the nuclear industry present to solving the energy crisis.
“I am leading a group of young people who are looking for solutions to solving the energy unaffordability and reducing the cost of industrialization in their own countries.” She said
She lauded Atomexpo22 saying such an event will provide many people with information about what’s happening in the nuclear industry while also helping to demystify myths around nuclear energy.
The expo includes plenary sessions, thematic round tables and panel discussions. It has been held annually in Russia since 2009. — NNN-KBC
