International Forum on
Energy
and Environmental Opportunities
in the Russian State Research Centres and Nuclear Cities(*)
Council Room of the Municipality of Como, Italy, 9-10 April 2001
organized by
Landau
Network-Centro Volta (LNCV), Como, Italy
Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council (RANSAC), Washington, USA
supported
by
General Direction
for Cultural Promotion and Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Ente
per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente (ENEA), Italy
and with the assistance of
Italian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political Affairs General Direction
RFNC-VNIIEF, Sarov, Russia
RFNC-VNIITF, Snezhinsk, Russia
W. Alton Jones Foundation, Charlottesville, USA
Fondazione Opera
Campana dei Caduti, Rovereto (Trento), Italy
Municipality of Como
A key-element in the military nuclear complex of the
former Soviet Union has been the creation of 10 Cities, closed to the external
world, fully dedicated to the various stages of the building of nuclear weapons.
These Nuclear Cities, with an aggregated population of over 700,000 people,
still host a body of scientists and technicians of high skill and
professionality. As a consequence of the process of downsizing that necessarily
involves (and will involve) the Russian Nuclear Cities, many of these
scientists and technicians need to find job-alternatives. Otherwise they may,
in the long run, constitute a serious source of proliferation concern.
Many initiatives have been taken to address the
problems discussed so far. Unfortunately, it is unrealistic to expect that
these problems will take care of themselves after a while. Letting time go by,
is not a solution. The task of addressing the problems pertaining to the
complex of the former Soviet Union, will demand international cooperation for
many years to come and at a level that should be much higher than the present
one.
Up to now we have seen a constructive cooperation
between many countries of the industrialized world and the countries of the
former Soviet Union, as in the ISTC and in the TACIS, and specifically we have
seen the whole array of US-Russian cooperation initiatives, projects and
agreements (Cooperative Threat Reductions, Material Protection and Accounting
Program, Nuclear Cities Initiative, lab to lab cooperation, Purchase of Fissile
material, etc.).
The task of securing a smooth economic transition and
of reducing the proliferation risks of the Russian Nuclear Cities is of
paramount importance and demands prompt attention and, probably, a better
effort than the present one. The specific problem of Nuclear Cities and their
economic conversion has been addressed, up to now, in the framework of
US-Russian cooperation, by the "Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI)".
This can be an area in which European countries could
contribute and do more for the nuclear problems of the former Soviet Union and,
simultaneously, do more for international security.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the
technical support of Landau Network-Centro Volta, through an International
Forum held in Rome last December 1999, proposed to promote a "European
Nuclear Cities Initiative (ENCI)" program that could complement the
US-Russian NCI.
The ENCI, launched at the European level by the
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through several CONOP meetings in the year
2000, should consist of a general framework for European-Russian cooperation
initiatives to be carried on at various levels, e.g. Government to Government,
Agency to Agency, Lab to Lab, Region to Region, without ruling out a possible
direct cooperation between Russia and the European Union. Coordination with the US-NCI should be
obviously guaranteed.
The ENCI should aim at fostering non-proliferation,
environmental clean-up and energy technologies for the economic conversion of
the defense scientific and technological complex of the Russian Federation. The
primary reference of ENCI should be the scientists and technicians of the
Nuclear Cities. This program is
perfectly consistent with the "Common Strategy of the European Union on
Russia" adopted in Cologne, Germany, last 4 June 1999.
The cooperation between European Government and
Institutions, on one side, and Russian Government and Institutions and the
Nuclear Cities should be focused on topics like:
¾
Advanced energy
technologies and energy efficiency
¾
Monitoring of
environmental pollution and
environmental clean up
¾
Controlling
radioactive waste
¾
Fostering EU
commercial enterprises in energy and environmental fields by using the
expertise developed in the Nuclear Cities
¾
Creation of
analytic and modelling computing centres in the Cities, according to the above
main S&T European goals (energy and environment)
The Nuclear
Cities to be involved in the ENCI project are, at least at the beginning,
Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70) and Sarov (Arzamas-16).
Many of the weapon scientists inside the
Russian complex possess generic engineering and technical talents that could be
applied to major energy and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
The Russian complex could be encouraged to
develop its expertise in several vital energy/environmental areas including:
•
Research
and development of radioactive waste clean-up technologies and techniques;
•
Carbon
management (includes: energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and
technologies applicable for emissions trading);
•
Environmental
science: modelling and measurement;
•
Communications,
information and similar technologies.
In this framework it should be mandatory to create
a set of concrete technological projects in a DSM approach, with different
priorities, in the following areas:
1.
Environmental Restoration and Clean-Up of Radioactive and Chemical Wastes;
2. Energy Efficiency and
Saving Technologies;
3. Renewable
and Other Environmentally Friendly Energy Technologies (fuel cells, cogeneration,
hydrogen technologies, etc.);
4. Methodologies
for Trading, Mitigation and Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions;
5.Environmental
Sciences: Modelling, Measurement and Forecasting.
International Forum
on
Energy and Environmental Opportunities
in the Russian State Research Centers and Nuclear Cities
Council Room of the Municipality of Como, Italy, 9-10 April 2001
Program
Sunday, 8 April 2001
20.00
Dinner
at Palace Hotel
Monday, 9 April 2001
9.00-10.00 Opening and Welcome Addresses
Chairpersons: Ken Luongo, Executive Director RANSAC and Maurizio Martellini, Secretary
General LNCV, USPID and University of Insubria, Como
Alberto
Botta, Mayor,
Municipality of Como
Giovanni Iannuzzi, Counsellor, Italian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Didier Gambier, Principal Administrator, European Commission
European
Union
Vladimir
Rybachenkov,
Counsellor, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
US Department of State
Antonino Lantieri, Director
Assistant, Sustainable Energy Systems Division, ENEA
Mirco Elena, ITC and Fondazione Opera Campana dei Caduti
Sessions on Environmental and Energy
Efficiency Activities
10.00-11.30 Session
I – Status of International Initiatives to Redirect the Russian State
Research Centers and Nuclear Cities
Chairperson:
Paolo Cotta-Ramusino,
Secretary General
USPID, LNCV and Dept.
of
Physics, University of Milano
Viktor Belkin, MINATOM, Department of
International and External Cooperation
“Downsizing
of the Russian Nuclear Complex and Defense Conversion Programs”
Uwe Meyer, Deputy Executive Director ISTC, “The
International Science and
Technology Center”
Bill
Desmond, Program
Manager NCI, DOE “The U.S. Nuclear Cities Initiative”
Ken
Luongo, Executive
Director RANSAC “Nongovernmental Activities”
Maurizio Martellini, Secretary General LNCV “The
European Nuclear Cities
Initiative”
General
Discussion
11.30-11.45 Coffee Break
11.45-13.00 Session II – Energy Efficiency
Chairperson: Ken Luongo, Executive Director RANSAC
Meredydd Evans, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory “Establishment of Energy Efficiency Centers”
Alexander Ageyev, Director, Seversk Center for
Energy Efficiency “Establishment
of an Energy Efficiency Center in Seversk”
Anatoly Zrodnikov, Director General, IPPE, Obninsk “Environmental
Methodology Site of Obninsk Naukograd Nuclear Research Centers”
A.F. Shapovalov, RFNC-VNIIEF “Establishment of a
Center of the Effective
Energy within ENCI Program”
Vitaly Papushkin, Leading Researcher, CENEf.
“Assessment of Heat Load and
Heat Consumption Dynamics Perspectives for Seversk and Zheleznogorsk”
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.00 Session II – Continuation
Chairperson:
Meredydd Evans, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory
Vladimir
Zatsepine,
RFNC-VNIITF “Energy Efficiency Products Development”
Svetlana A. Monakhova, RFNC-VNIIEF “Training Programs
for VNIIEF Specialists in Sustainable Energy”
Vladimir Zhigalov, Head of Delegation RFNC-VNIIEF
“Review of Energy Proposal by RFNC-VNIIEF and other Sarov Companies for
Cooperation within the European Initiative”
General
Discussion
15.00-16.15 Session
III – Environmental Cleanup Technologies
Chairperson: Stephen Mladineo, Program Manager International
Techn. Ass.,
Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory
James Fuller, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory “Swapping Russian Debt for
Ecological Cleanup”
Charles Cole, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory “Hanford’s Environmental
Cleanup Technology Needs”
Vitali Kurotchkine, VNIPIpromotechnologii
“Subsurface Contamination Management and Deep Well Monitoring”
Ralston Barnard, Sandia National Laboratory and Konstantin
Dorofeev, Director
General Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) Science and Technology Center “The
Zheleznogorsk High Level Waste Tank Demonstration Center Project”.
16.15-16.30 Coffee Break
16.30-18.00 Session III – Continuation
Chairperson: Bill Dunlop, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory
Raphael Della Ratta, RANSAC “Technology
Opportunities in the U.S. Cleanup
Program”
A.D. Eremin, RFNC-VNIIEF “Presentation of
RFNC-VNIIEF Possibilities within
Environmental Issues”
Olga Vorontsova, RFNC-VNIIEF “Implementation of
the Methods to Estimate and
Decrease the Risks for the Northern-Caspian Region”
Guennadi Stoudenikine, RFNC-VNIITF “Development of
High-Level Waste Conservation on the Basis of the Self-Propagating
High-temperature Fusion”
Victor Dombrovskiy and Evgeny Zhuravlev,
RFNC-VNIITF “Environmental Control and Monitoring”
General
Discussion
20.00 Social
Dinner at Villa Olmo Restaurant
Tuesday, 10 April 2001
9.00-10.15 Session
III – Continuation
Chairperson: Raphael Della Ratta, Consortium Coordinator RANSAC
Evgueni N. Avrorin, Director, RFNC-VNIITF “Crisis
Situation Center in Snezhinsk”
Vyacheslav
Kuranov,
RFNC-VNIITF “Radioactive Waste Handling”
Alexandre Tsvetokhine, RFNC-VNIITF “New Composite
Materials on the Basis of Natural Zeolites for Decontamination of Low-Level and
Intermediate-Level Natural and Waste Water”
Nina
Barycheva,
RFNC-VNIITF “Karabash: a Zone of Special Concern”
General
Discussion
10.15-11.00 Session IV – Carbon Management and
Emissions Trading
Chairperson:
Vladimir
Zhigalov, Deputy
Director RFNC-VNIIEF
Ram Uppuluri, Environmental Defense “Carbon
Trading and Emissions Monitoring”
Rodion
Vozniouk, CSRD,
Snezhinsk “Snezhinsk Carbon Management Project”
General
Discussion
11.00-11.15 Coffee
Break
Sessions on Advanced and Saving Energy Technologies,
Manufacturing Activities, Medical Opportunities
11.15-12.30 Session
V – Fuel Cells
Chairperson:
Evgeni N.
Avrorin, Director
RFNC-VNIITF
Vyacheslav Kuranov, RFNC-VNIITF “Advanced
Technological Components for Fuel Cells in Snezhinsk”.
Vladimir Fateev, Head of Department, Kurchatov
Institute “Some Aspects of PEMFC Development in Russia”
Vladimir
Chukharev,
RFNC-VNIITF “Developing Technologies for Fuel Cells”
Olga
Vorontsova,
RFNC-VNIIEF “Fuel Cells Products in Sarov”
General
Discussion
12.30-13.30 Press Conference
13.30-14.30 Lunch
14.30-15.15 Session
VI – Energy Saving Technologies
Chairperson:
Bill Desmond, Program Manager NCI,
DOE
Evgeni N. Avrorin, Director, RFNC-VNIITF
“Initiative of RF President V. Putin on the New Atomic Power Engineering
Nonproliferation Problem”
A.V.
Rachkov,
RFNC-VNIIEF “Remote Monitoring of Oil and Gas Pipelines”
General
Discussion
15.15-16.00 Session VII – Manufacturing
Technologies and Medical Opportunities in Sarov
Chairperson: Lydia Ilkaeva, Project Manager, RFNC-VNIIEF
Vladimir Zhigalov, Deputy Director RFNC-VNIIEF
“Products of the “Titan Center” in Sarov”
Elena S. Dyakova, RFNC-VNIIEF “Establishment of a
Telemedicine Center. Production of UV Lasers for Medical Implementations. Rapid
Prototype Design Center”
General
Discussion
16.00-16.15 Coffee Break
16.15-18.30 Forum
Conclusions and Specific Actions
Adoption of Documents
Chairpersons: Giovanni Iannuzzi, Counsellor, Italian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Maurizio Martellini, Secretary General
LNCV, USPID and University of Insubria, Como
20.00 Dinner at Palace Hotel
The
Forum is organized as a Round Table.
All
contributions will be presented upon invitation and must not exceed 10-15
minutes. A wide discussion will follow every sub-session. The official language
is English. A Russian-English simultaneous translation will be provided. The
results will be published and inserted on Web.
A Press
conference is scheduled for April 10 morning at 12.30 and a release of
Executive Summary and Recommendations is expected.
Attendants
have been chosen among the representatives of governmental, scientific, technical
and non-governmental institutions, and among companies operating in energy
saving technologies and environmental clean-up. Members of the European
Commission, ISTC and CONOP are attending. We expect at least 60 participants.