MOSCOW, January 22 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is convinced that further development of nuclear energy is “inevitable” despite the catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011.
Speaking at a meeting with students of the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute on Wednesday, the president said: “I suppose it is inevitable.”
“It is impossible to reverse progress,” he said, noting that when the first motor vehicles appeared, many people also opposed this branch of engineering out of the fear cars were too fast and even scared horses. In spite of this, both cars and other vehicles continued to develop actively.
“The question is how to ensure security,” Putin said, adding that Russia would go on developing nuclear power, which currently accounted for no more than sixteen percent of the country’s energy balance.
The president said there were plans to build 28 nuclear power reactors until 2030, while over the whole Soviet period, there had been only 30 plants established. Besides, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has already secured orders for the construction of 22 reactors around the world.