The country should not curtail nuclear power generation following the nuclear disaster in Japan, or it will lose not only its competitiveness, but also its nuclear shield, Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said in an interview on state-controlled Channel One television Sunday.
"If the country curtails nuclear power generation, we will lose a competitive nuclear weapons complex in 10, 15 or, with a bit of luck, 20 years," Kiriyenko said. The construction of nuclear submarines, "which today guarantee the strategic balance," depends on the development of the nuclear power industry, he said.
"The same is true about future development in general. Space exploration is unthinkable without nuclear power as a source of energy," he added.
(Interfax)