Vladimir Putin meets with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Igor Lebedev
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Zhirinovsky, Mr Lebedev. In accordance with the law, the government is soon to deliver its 2010 report to parliament. I believe that this is a good and salutary practice.
We know that Russia still faces economic problems as a result of the global financial and economic crisis. Russia is slowly clawing its way out of the crisis, and I believe that we will emerge with only a few scratches. But of course there will be losses, and people can sense it. You and I realise that we had become accustomed to economic growth in past decades. But the current situation is completely different, and many find it difficult to adapt – ordinary people and policy-makers alike.
At the same time, I would like you to acknowledge that we discuss most of our anti-crisis policies with the parliament. Without some of the parliament’s decisions, we would not have been able to act promptly and effectively. The results would have been more modest. You must now see some obvious upward trends. I would like this meeting to be the first in a series of preliminary consultations with the leaders of different [political] groups in the Duma. I would like to hear your opinions and make the necessary changes to the report I am going to make in parliament.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky: We are glad to see you again, Mr Putin. We will also be glad to see some of our ideas reflected in your report. I am referring to the problems now facing the world – not Russia alone. One of them is energy – and particularly, nuclear power. If we could use thorium more exclusively as nuclear fuel… Russian physicist Lev Maksimov from Novosibirsk has been working on this problem for ten years. The Germans began showing interest in his projects after what happened in Japan. A thorium reactor can be sealed underground and work there for 50 years without any damage to the surrounding environment – almost none at all. Thorium reactors would rule out accidents like Chernobyl or Fukushima that result in melting fuel, excessive radiation levels, and all the potential hazards that people fear.
Rosatom’s programme lays an emphasis on building more nuclear power stations; however, it does not focus on the use of thorium reactors. It would be useful to build at least one and see how it works – confirm that it is better. Safety and the time factor are important, of course. We currently face huge institutional costs every ten or fifteen years. Tens of billions of roubles are spent annually on nuclear waste. We’ll see if thorium reactors are more efficient economically. Considering that the whole world is focused on nuclear power these days… We have the thorium, and Maksimov is a Russian physicist, as well.
Modern nuclear reactors run on Uranium-235. Our resources are gradually being depleted. It would be wiser to use Uranium-238 and save the Uranium-235 for power stations that can only use this type of fuel. This is a scientific fact. What I am saying here is all based on the Russian scientific research of the past few years.
Another concern is transport. If you have time, please look at one project that is also being developed by Russian scientists. It is a mega-project involving Sergei Stepashin (head of Russia’s Audit Chamber), researchers such as Dr Gennady Osipov (director of the Institute of Socio-Political Research), and Pavel Borodin (state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State). It is a mega-project! I mean…
More to be posted soon...
источник новости: http://premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/14650/
