Rosatom to create over 15000 jobs in South Africa

Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, which is planning to bid for contracts to build nuclear power plants in South Africa, has vowed to create more than 15,000 jobs in the country and localize a considerable part of production to meet one of the customers’ key requirements. “Implementation of South Africa’s nuclear generation program jointly with Rosatom will create about 15,000 jobs to build, maintain and operate new units as well as several thousand jobs in related industries, increase the income of South African enterprises by 15 billion U.S. dollars and get an additional 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in budget revenue,” said Rusatom Overseas Executive Vice President Boris Arseyev, who promotes and advances Rosatom’s projects abroad. He confirmed the company’s readiness to build six nuclear reactors in South Africa with a combined capacity of 9.6 GW. “Rosatom’s comprehensive approach to the construction of nuclear power plants is unique. Its integrated offer covers the full range of products and services, including fuel supply for nuclear power stations, their life cycle management, the training of personnel, and various financial solutions,” Arseyev said at a congress of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA) in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, August 14. Rosatom offers South Africa 3+ VVER reactors that meet all of the latest international nuclear safety requirements. According to Arseyev, Rosatom seeks to localise production when building nuclear power plants in other countries, which helps spur local economies and increase the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. Rusatom Overseas earlier announced a 40 percent level of localisation. In April of this year, Rosatom was among more than 200 exhibitors that participated in Africa’s largest power and energy show. The exhibition known as the “Power and Electricity World Africa 2013” is an annual event which brings together 4,500 stakeholders and decision makers in the power and energy industries from around the globe. The show included an exhaustive exhibition where power and energy companies will have the opportunity to showcase and promote their products and services. The theme of the Power and Electricity World Africa 2013 exhibition focused on different sources of energy such as thermal and nuclear generation, renewable energy, solar power and sustainable methods of generating clean power technology. Exhibitors and participants in the show came from Russia, China and India, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Kim Frankental, Project Director of Power and Electricity World Africa says that the exhibition will be "unleashing the latest trends and technologies, project updates and news contributing to the sustainable future of Africa's power and energy sector." Alexander Kirillov, Head of Rosatom’s Marketing Office in South Africa said more people were interested to learn more about Rosatom’s operations. Rosatom employed unique integrated solutions in NPP construction. These solutions include a wide range of products and services - from uranium extraction to NPP construction, consulting national legislative and regulatory frameworks, personnel training and investment attraction. ROSATOM integrated solutions in nuclear power can be adapted to meet the client's needs and the specifics of a given project. The company offers universal solutions, encompassing all possible aspects of creating a fully-fledged nuclear power complex in the client country, the company said. Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, was founded in 2011 with the aim of promoting Russian nuclear technology on the global market. Rusatom Overseas acts as an integrator of Rosatom’s complex solutions in nuclear energy, manages the promotion of the integrated offer and the development of Russian nuclear business abroad, as well as working to create a worldwide network of Rosatom marketing offices. Rusatom Overseas also acts as a developer of Rosatom’s foreign projects, which are implemented with the build-own-operate (BOO) structure. The key element in ROSATOM's offer is the design, engineering, and construction of nuclear power plants based on safe, proven VVER technology. Rusatom Overseas promotes the use of the VVER 1000/1200 platform on the global market, as the most advanced combination of active and passive safety systems. Rusatom Overseas also acts as a developer of ROSATOM's foreign projects, which are implemented with the build-own-operate structure. Rosatom’s first BOO project was the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, the first in Turkey. Rusatom Overseas develops and operates Rosatom’s network of marketing offices. The first marketing office has already been set up in Ukraine. The company plans to open about 20 offices around the world in 2012-2015.