A major international nuclear industry event, Atom Expo, an international exhibition organized by Rosatom State Corporation, opened on Monday in Science and Art Park Sirius in Sochi, Russia.
This is the 13th edition of the Forum, bringing together over 4.5 thousand participants from 75 countries. Its key theme in 2024 is generation IV reactor technologies and Russia’s leadership in this area.
Just like in previous editions, the expo brought together representatives of energy agencies, public authorities, major global nuclear power players, and leading international experts. The event’s flagship guests included Deputy Director General of IAEA Mikhail Chudakov, Burundian Minister of Hydraulics, Energy and Mines Ibrahim Uwizeye, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, and Serbian Minister of Health Dr Danica Grujičić.
The opening ceremony was attended, among others, by Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev, Director General of IAEA Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA) Sama Bilbao y León.
At the opening, Alexey Likhachev said, “ATOMEXPO-2024 is the first carbon-free forum, powered by green sources only. We hope that this approach will become a good tradition for all major events.”
“Today’s event,” he continued, “has gathered a record-high number of participants, international guests and countries represented at the Forum by their delegations. For the first time, we are welcoming Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Iraq. We highlight the special, preferential participation of African representatives in our Forum, as it is Africa that harbours a huge potential of nuclear technology development today.” The head of Rosatom concluded by noting that “the Forum’s motto is ‘Clean energy: creating the future together,’ ‘the future’ and ‘together’ being the key words. Together, we will discuss generation IV, thermonuclear fusion, and other technologies. Only together with all the countries can we build a clean-power future for our planet.”
In his speech, Rafael Mariano Grossi noted that the Forum has become an important milestone in the global atomic event calendar: “ATOMEXPO is very important in the context of exploring innovative power solutions and discussing the future of the nuclear energy sector.”
He added, “Rosatom has been developing innovative technologies: small module reactors, gen III+ and IV reactors. Three years ago, together we poured concrete in the foundation of the world’s first fast reactor with BREST-OD-300 actuator. The International Atomic Energy Agency will take part in such projects. We celebrate these future-bound technologies being launched now.”
After the opening ceremony, a live broadcast was held from the city of Seversk in the Tomsk Region, which hosts the Breakthrough Project, the world’s first gen IV power complex. The facility has confirmed on air that its fabrication/refabrication module is ready to be commissioned for nuclear fuel production.
As usual, ATOMEXPO is expected to feature ceremonies of signing of meaningful partnership agreements. Throughout the Forum’s history, there have been over 500 of them, with a total value of USD 63 bln.
To demonstrate Rosatom’s commitment to the climate agenda, the agency says compensation of the carbon footprint of the XIII International Forum ATOMEXPO-2024 will be ensured through award of special certificates.