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Europe not likely to abandon nuclear power engineering

Director general of Rusatom Overseas claims abandonment of nuclear energy is economically disadvantageous

HELSINKI, September 3 (Itar-Tass) - Most European countries are unlikely to take up Germany’s lead and abandon nuclear energy generation, Dzhomart Aliyev, director general of Rusatom Overseas, company marketing Russian nuclear technologies worldwide, told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The Russian company and its Finnish partner, Fennovoima, plan to sign a contract to build a new nuclear plant in Finland’s Pyhajoki by the end of this year. Rusatom Overseas also maintains close cooperation with other European countries in the nuclear sector.

Abandonment was "absolutely impossible,” Aliyev said. “Today, it is simply economically disadvantageous. As concerns a forecast for Europe, I don’t think there will be any common European concept or a common European attitude to nuclear power engineering. I don’t think all European countries would follow Germany’s lead.”

First, “they have no economic grounds for that,” he said. “After all, Germany is a rich country. And, second, giving up nuclear power engineering, they should be very careful about what to offer in exchange.”

“It is impossible to simply tell the people that since the country has decided not to use nuclear energy electricity will not be supplied 24 hours a day,"Aliyev said. “It is Europe, after all. So, I don’t think it will take a global anti-nuclear attitude.”