Address of S.E. Donskoy, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, to the participants of the International Forum AtomEco 2013

Dear participants of the International Forum AtomEco 2013!

The nuclear energy industry has developed over the course of many years, both in Russia and abroad, taking sound positions among traditional types of energy production and proving to be no less useful than alternative sources.

Having originated in leading nuclear states as a peaceful application of military technologies, it turned into an independent sector of the economy and is gradually spreading to other countries, providing some of them with the most effective solution for superpositioning energy deficiency, resource economy and natural resource management issues.

At the same time, despite its steady development, technological progress and enhanced safety level, further strengthening of the nuclear energy industry’s position is inseparably linked to its ecological and social adoptability, which today depends in large on creating conditions for reducing the volume of radioactive waste generation, developing technologies for its safe disposal, establishing effective reprocessing of used nuclear fuel and repeated use of the resulting products, developing technologies for decommissioning terminated facilities, rehabilitating radioactively polluted territories and resolving nuclear legacy problems.

In connection to this, the central topic of the Forum, “Nuclear Energy - A Zero Damage Strategy” is a serious target whose achievement requires efficient cooperation of state authorities, corporations and organizations working in this industry, and society.

Let this Forum, being held in the Year of Environmental Protection in Russia, become one more step forward on the path to that target.

I wish all the Forum participants success in their work for the benefit of ecologically safe nuclear energy development!

Minister of Natural Resources and

Ecology of the Russian Federation S.E. Donskoy