Russian Duma Approves Bill Restructuring Civillian Nuclear Industry

From the AP:

Russian lawmakers gave preliminary backing Wednesday to legislation to restructure the nation's nuclear industries.

The State Duma voted 368-51 to approve a bill that would create a fully state-owned holding company encompassing all enterprises involved in the civilian nuclear sector. The military nuclear complex would be managed separately.

The legislation must undergo two more readings before being sent to the upper house for approval and to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

As we've noted before, the Russian strategy seems to be: 1) Export natural gas for foreign exchange; 2) Build new nuclear capacity for domestic electricity generation.

All our friends in Europe who are fighting new nuclear build elsewhere on the continent ought to be asking the question as to why Russia is so eager to build new plants.

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