Russia says it could build nuclear power plant in SL

Russia could build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Sri Lanka some day considering the growing energy demand in the country, Russian envoy to Colombo Yury Materiy said in an interview with Sputnik.

According to UrduPoint News, the ambassador has said since the Sri Lankan government favours pollution-free energy and aims at gradually replacing coal and oil with gas and alternative energy sources, the using of nuclear energy is possible only in a long-term perspective, while relevant effort is already made.   

He recalled that Russia’s nuclear corporation Rosatom and relevant Sri Lankan bodies held their first consultations in 2017 on the Russia-initiated inter-governmental agreement on cooperating on the peaceful use of the nuclear energy.  

“The NPP would the final result of the inter-governmental cooperation on the peaceful atom. Considering the shown interest and Sri Lanka’s progressive economical development, the energy consumption is increasing significantly. In this context, the idea to build an NPP may well be discussed and may be implemented in the long-term perspective,” Materiy said.