Russia slow downs in construction of nuclear plants

"We are implementing the programme of building power units in Russia in accordance with the set task. It has not changed, and we will have to build all those 26 power units we have made plans for, but the peak of construction has been put off for several years due to the financial crisis and the dwindling consumption of electricity in the country," Sergei Kiriyenko, Rosatom head said on Wednesday.

He said it would be wrong to build reactors that are not needed. "We planned to build two units a year. Now we have corrected our programme to one unit a year for the next several years," Kiriyenko added.

Russia is also one of the leaders on the global NPP market. The Russian company Atomstroiexport fulfils orders making up about 20 percent of the global competitive market and is the only company in the world that is building reactors in four countries at the same time: China, India, Iran, and Bulgaria.