Russia offers nuclear expertise to Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Russia will extend its expertise if Malaysia decides to develop its own nuclear programme.

Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev, who said this, added that his country was well-placed to build and support a national nuclear industry.

“We will propose a very sophisticated and complex construction of a local nuclear programme. We can construct nuclear power generation stations.

“We can also organise training of local personnel because we believe the project can be managed by Malaysia itself,” he said in an interview during a recent visit here.

Ulyukayev was asked how Russia could help if Malaysia wanted to develop its own nuclear power plant.

“We have good experience in power and nuclear power stations.

“In Asia, we are constructing infrastructure for these sectors in some countries and also delivering site support for them,” he added.

The then Soviet Union became the world's second nuclear weapons state after it tested its first device at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on Aug 29, 1949.

Russia is now one of five recognised nuclear weapons states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a status which it inherited as the legal successor of the Soviet Union — Bernama.