Nuclear industry is one of the few industries in the Russian economy realizing its competitive export potential through manufacture of science intensive high-tech products.
From the moment of its foundation the industry was designed as an integrated scientific and industrial complex oriented towards development and production of nuclear weapons under the conditions of a mobilization-type economy and addressing defense tasks only. In the years to follow the task of developing nuclear energy was added.
Since the 1990-ies the research and development programs faced a nearly complete curtailment of financial support from the state budget and a material reduction of the volume of government orders including defense order. In this situation export of civilian products became a guarantee for survival of Russian nuclear industry. The industry’s involvement in commercial activities and presence at the world market enabled preserving Russian nuclear industry and avoiding closure of facilities.
In the Program for nuclear industry development the President of the Russian Federation formulated the main objectives in the field. The following should be specifically mentioned:
- development of a balanced nuclear weapons complex;
- integrated resolution of tasks to ensure safety during nuclear energy use;
- development of nuclear energy industrial complex.
The Program considers the nuclear energy industrial complex as a basic segment of the industry to address the following objectives:
- inside the country — to secure uninterruptible power supply for economy and the population;
- abroad — to consolidate the positions of Russian facilities at the world market.
The program defines the instruments for attaining these objectives. The key instruments are:
- endorsement and implementation of the Federal Target Program for development of nuclear energy industrial complex in the period from 2007 to 2010 and till 2015;
- creation of a regulatory and legal framework needed for the industry development: this regulatory and legal framework should be based on the general approaches used for regulating peaceful use of nuclear energy in the developed countries;
- establishment within the nuclear energy and industrial complex of an integrated structure in the form of a holding company that should combine production, scientific and technological resources of the key civilian technological transformations of the industry; the holding company will be headed by a Joint Stock Company with 100 per cent of the shares to be held in the federal property.
Federal Law ¹ 13-FZ
The Federal Law (¹ 13-FZ dated February 5, 2007) «On Some Features of Management and Disposition of Property and Shares of Entities Engaged in Nuclear Power Use, and Amendments and Addenda to Some Legal Acts of the Russian Federation» is the basic regulatory document legally guiding the processes for restructuring and development of nuclear industry. The law contains a step-by-step outline for establishing an integrated holding structure stipulated by the Program for nuclear industry development.
The outline comprises in the following.
By virtue of the decision by the President of the Russian Federation, a parent JSC of the future nuclear holding company will be established (referred to in the bill as the «Principal joint stock company»). The President determines the lists of nuclear entities to be included in the holding. The lists will define:
- joint stock companies operating in the nuclear industry with shares to be allocated in the legal capital of the Principal joint stock company.
- Federal State Unitary Enterprises (FSUE’s) in the nuclear industry that should be transformed to joint stock companies. Upon transformation to JSCs, the state will allocate the shares of JSC’s based on FSUE’s in the legal capital of the Principal joint stock company.
- FSUE’s in the nuclear industry, with property to be transferred to ownership by the principal joint stock company (it should be noted that this mechanism is not considered as the basic one: it can be used in any separate case, when transformation of a specific FSUE to JSC will be considered unfeasible).
- State institutions of skills upgrade for nuclear industry employees. According to the bill, the state will transfer these institutions under the guidance by the Principle joint stock company. The institutions proper, however, will survive and continue their work.
