VZCZCXRO2412
OO RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHMO #2187/01 1311228
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111228Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0138
INFO RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0482
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZN/EST COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 002187
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/RUS AND ISN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG KNNP TRGY RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: PUTIN SIGNS NUCLEAR SECTOR DECREE
REF: A) MOSCOW 301
B) 2006 MOSCOW 12948
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On April 27 President Putin signed a decree that
splits the Russian nuclear industry into three parts: a) civilian,
for-profit; b) military; and c) waste management. The decree is the
first practical step in effecting massive changes in the structure,
management, and forms of ownership of practically all nuclear
industry enterprises in Russia. It lays the groundwork for creation
of the Atomenergoprom civilian nuclear monopoly and, more
importantly, identifies those entities that will be included in
Atomenergoprom and those that will not. END SUMMARY
--------------------------------------------- ---
AEK (aka ATOMENERGOPROM) -- CIVILIAN, FOR PROFIT
--------------------------------------------- ---
2. (SBU) On April 27 President Putin signed a decree "On
Restructuring the Nuclear and Energy Industry Complex of the Russian
Federation." This decree splits the Russian nuclear industry into
three parts: civilian, for-profit; military; and waste management.
The decree follows from nuclear sector legislation enacted by the
Duma earlier this year (refs A and B) and is the first practical
step in effecting massive changes throughout Russia's nuclear
industry.
3. (SBU) In accordance with the decree, the Open Joint Stock Company
Atomniy Energopromishlennii Kompleks (AEK) will be created with
headquarters in Moscow. AEK, popularly known as Atomenergoprom,
will bring together the following enterprises:
-- All enterprises involved in the fuel cycle from uranium ore
exploration up through fuel assembly production (i.e., those
enterprises that previously reported to TVEL);
-- All uranium enrichment facilities;
-- All nuclear power plants;
-- Some machine building factories; and
-- Design, scientific, and infrastructural institutes and firms
(including TENEX) working on peaceful uses on nuclear energy
In all AEK will consist of 86 sub-entities that make up the civilian
sector of Russia's reorganized nuclear industry. Although some of
these entities are involved in R, the primary focus is on profit.
4. (SBU) One hundred percent of AEK shares will belong to the State.
Those AEK sub-entities that formerly were federal unitary
enterprises are converted into joint stock companies. The Russian
Government will convert all property (including nuclear materials)
belonging to these sub-enterprises into ??? charter capital.
5. (SBU) The decree specifies that AEK's priorities are:
-- The design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of
nuclear installations and nuclear power plants;
-- R on peaceful uses of nuclear energy;
-- Prospecting for and extraction of uranium ore and ore containing
nuclear materials;
-- Uranium enrichment;
-- Fuel assembly production and export;
-- Uranium import and export, enrichment services, and other
products and services connected with the use of nuclear energy.
--------
MILITARY
--------
6. (SBU) In addition to creating AEK, the decree identifies those
enterprises that will NOT be included in AEK. First among these are
15 enterprises serving the needs of Russia's military nuclear
complex. This list includes all warhead production facilities,
Mayak, the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for
Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) in Sarov, the All-Russian Scientific
Research Institute for Technical Physics (VNIITF) in Snezhinsk, the
test site at Novaya Zemlya, and other R institutes.
7. (SBU) The military nuclear facilities will remain state owned and
MOSCOW 00002187 002 OF 002
will continue to report directly to Rosatom as in the past.
--------------------------------
SNF STORAGE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
--------------------------------
8. (SBU) Those facilities concerned with the storage of spent
nuclear fuel (e.g. the Mining Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk) and
radioactive waste management (e.g., Dal RAO in Murmansk oblast' and
Sev Rao in the Far East) also will not be included in AEK.
Moreover, they were not covered by the presidential decree.
9. (SBU) Sergey Mostinskiy, adviser to Deputy Rosatom Head Andrey
Malyshev, explained to us that these enterprises will be included in
the soon to be established Federal Center for Nuclear and Radiation
Safety, which will be created by internal Rosatom executive order.
This Center will receive its funding directly from the state
budget.
---------
OWNERSHIP
---------
10. (SBU) Significantly, the presidential decree also establishes
for the first time that legal entities have the right to own nuclear
materials (with the exception of weapons grade materials and
actinides). The decree provides a list of the entities that will
have this right, from which we see that they are in fact those same
entities that possess nuclear materials today.
-------
COMMENT
-------
11. (SBU) The presidential decree was announced one day after
President Putin made his annual address to the Federal Assembly in
which he said, "I propose setting up a corporation to integrate
nuclear power enterprises operating on domestic and foreign
markets." The decree sets in motion the reorganization expected
since the Duma passed nuclear sector legislation earlier this year.
We are already hearing hints of dramatic personnel shifts at Rosatom
and elsewhere.
BURNS