On April 16, 2019, during the XI International ATOMEXPO-2019 Forum held in Sochi, a Memorandum of Cooperation has been signed between the Fund for municipal corporations advancement ‘The Association of the nuclear power plants locations’ (ATR AES, Russia) and the Control, Information and Regional Development Organization (TEIT, Hungary).
On behalf of the ATR AES, the document was executed by Nikolay Netiaga, the Fund Chairman, and Svetlana Churilova, the Executive Secretary. B?lint J?zsef Mikl?s, The TEIT Chairman, and Istv?n G?ncs, the Co-Chairman, have signed the Memorandum on behalf of the Hungarian counterpart.
The aim of this document is to foster the development of mutual cooperation, as it stipulates the exchange of best practices related to making the public informed about the nuclear power and fostering the public trust towards the nuclear power in general.
The parties intend to work together in the realms of trade, economic, research and development, and cultural relations in manufacturing, small and medium-sized business, agriculture, arts, education, healthcare, tourism, youth policy, sports, environment protection, and efficient use of natural resources. The parties plan to continue their cooperation within the framework of the European Association of localities in close proximity to NPPs (GMF), as the ATR AES FUND is scheduled to join GMF until the end of the year.
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The Fund for municipal corporations advancement ‘The Association of the nuclear power plants locations’ (The ATR AES Fund) was established in February 2013. Its main goal is to combine the efforts of the Rosenergoatom Joint Stock Company and the local authorities in municipalities and to foster the exchange of best practices related to social, economic, and infrastructural development of the territories where nuclear power plants are located, as well as to elaborate on the safety culture tenants that the Russian nuclear power plants stick to. In November 2018, the Fund Expert Council was set up, which has already been joined by representatives of Hungary, Belarus and Abkhazia. The Fund Expert Council works on the following assignments: analyzes the projects, social programs and other initiatives designed to facilitate social, economic, and infrastructural development of municipalities and to increase the social and environmental comfort level for people living within the NPPs’ locations, as well as provides recommendations on possible improvements to those initiatives.
The Control, Information and Regional Development Organization (TEIT, Hungary) was established in 1992 and is made of mayors of those Hungarian cities and towns that are in close proximity to the Paksh NPP. The goal of this organization is to facilitate the communication with the Paksh NPP, foster cooperation, and make sure the public trusts the nuclear power. TEIT’s activities are focused on information exchange and solving problems. An independent set of measurements (detectors within cities and towns) and data evaluation processes has been organized by TEIT, and the results of these evaluations are published in the media.
The XI International ATOMEXPO-2019 Forum took place on April 15-16, 2019, in Sochi. The main topic of this year’s forum is ‘Nuclear technology for better life standards’. This is the first time when the business program is formulated by the International Program Committee, which is made of: William Magwood, the Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Agneta Rising, the Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA); Jacques Regaldo, former Chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO); Luis Ech?varri, former CEO of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and many more.
The participants of ATOMEXPO-2019 – the heads of governmental authorities, major companies, non-governmental organizations, international experts – will discuss global issues of the zero-carbon energy, responsible approach towards environment protection and natural resources, ‘green’ investments, global partnership for sustainable development. The event schedule encompasses 18 round tables on the up-to-date topics.
During the X anniversary ATOMEXPO-2018 Forum, over 4000 delegates and guests from 68 countries (compared to 65 countries in 2017 and 55 in 2016) took part in the event. The exhibition area exceeded 20 thousand square meters (compared to 12 thousand sq.m. in 2017). The total number of companies participating in the forum was over 600. 39 agreements and other cooperation and partnership documents were signed during ATOMEXPO-2018, including commercial arrangements