OREANDA-NEWS. “By 2011 we have to decide where we will build the plant. For the moment, we are quite satisfied with the site envisaged by the previous Soviet-time project,” the secretary of the Public Council of Rosatom Igor Konyshev said during a press-conference in Chelyabinsk, reported the press-centre of Rosatom.

That site has enough water resources. “We believe that the problem of the Techa cascades should not be linked with the problem of NPP construction in the region. Probably, we will choose the same site but with other water resources (other than the Techa cascades). The construction of the plant near Ozersk would be very useful for the “nuclear cities”,” Konyshev said.

In his turn, Radiation and Ecological Safety Minister of Chelyabinsk region Gennady Podtesov said that the new site should be linked to the existing one as the latter has all necessary conditions. “In order to make the final decision we need preliminary research,” Podtesov said.

As was reported earlier, the construction of Southern Ural NPP at Mayak PA was started in the 1980s. The project was supposed to solve lots of energy, ecological and social problems but was stopped shortly afterwards because of no financing.