Myanmar junta signs nuclear energy pact with Russia
Myanmar s military junta and Russia s state-run atomic energy agency have signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation.
The agreement was signed during junta head Min Aung Hlaing s previously undisclosed visit to Russia that began on Sunday.
The coup leader was on his second international trip since overthrowing an elected government in a military coup on February 1_ 2021_ and declaring himself Prime Minister of the Southeast Asian country.
The MoUs were signed at a meeting between the state-owned Russian firm's Director General_ Alexey Likhachov_ and the Chairman of the Myanmar State Administration Council_ Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The MoUs were signed on the Myanmar side by the Minister of Science and Technology Myo Thein Kyaw.
The Myanmar government said the parties had talked 'about cooperation in the sectors beneficial to peoples of both countries in atomic energy technological cooperation arena_ conducting the science and research_ manufacturing of pharmaceuticals_ agriculture_ livestock_ industry and foodstuff sectors through the peaceful use of nuclear energy'.
Myanmar relies largely on fossil fuel and hydro-power. In 2019_ Myanmar produced 24.3 TWh of energy with 13.7 TWh from fossil fuels and 10.5 TWh from hydro and the two countries have already cooperated in the field of nuclear power. In June 2015_ Russia and Myanmar signed a preliminary agreement to cooperate in the uses of nuclear energy_ WNN reports.
That followed on from a May 2007 agreement to construct a nuclear research centre in Myanmar that would comprise a 10 MWt light water reactor working on 20%-enriched U-235_ an activation analysis laboratory_ a medical isotope production laboratory_ silicon doping system_ nuclear waste treatment and burial facilities.
As WNN notes_ although Myanmar was a founding member of the International Atomic Energy Agency_ it does not have any nuclear energy at the moment. It signed a country programme framework with the IAEA in 2016 and also joined the Convention on Nuclear Safety in the same year.
It has been a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1992. -Source: mizzima
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