The governments of the Republic of Tunisia and the Russian Federation signed an agreement on Monday that lays the groundwork for peaceful uses of atomic energy. The signing ceremony, attended by ROSATOM Director General Sergy Kirienko and Tunisia's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Salim Khalbous, took place on the sidelines of the 60th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.,
The agreement is the legal foundation for bilateral cooperation between the two countries “in quite a number of areas of civil nuclear power,” ROSATOM said in a statement. Those areas include assistance in development and improvement of Tunisian nuclear infrastructure in compliance with international recommendations; design and construction of nuclear power and research reactors, as well as desalination plants and particle accelerators. In addition, cooperation is outlined for uranium exploration and mining, research of mineral resources of Tunisia and for the purpose of nuclear industry development.
Nuclear fuel cycle services for power plants are spelled out, which includes radioactive waste management, production of radioisotopes and their application in industry, medicine and agriculture.
The agreement also maps out the rudiments of a nuclear power bureaucracy for Tunisia. The document “envisages the formation of the coordination committee that will control the Agreement implementation, handle an issues that may arise in the process of the implementation and consult on an matters related to atomic power, ROSATOM said.