MOSCOW, January 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom plans to build a museum of nuclear energy with an area of 10 thousand square meters at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (VVC) near the Gagarin’s Vostok rocket mock-up, said Nikolai Doronin, director of Rosatom’s Nuclear Industry Historical and Cultural Centre.

The Kommersant newspaper writes that it had been previously planned to set up the nuclear energy museum at 71th pavilion “Atomic Energy” with an area of 4.89 thousand square meters that was built in 1954. However, in late December 2013, the Russian government cancelled the decision to transfer this pavilion to the state-owned corporation.

According to Doronin, the construction of a new building is necessary because the 71th pavilion is an architectural monument and “almost nothing can be changed there.” “Moreover, it is necessary to restore the historic decor in one of its halls,” he told the newspaper, which write, citing experts, that the minimum cost of the restoration of the pavilion might reach $30-35 million, which is almost three times more expensive than the construction of a new building.

The Nuclear Industry Historical and Cultural Centre director also said that during the construction of a new pavilion, Rosatom was ready “to comply with the requirements of VVC and the city (Moscow) on the preservation of the historical-architectural appearance of the area.