Official: Russia aims to build nuclear plant in Sri Lanka

MOSCOW, Feb 11 (PRIME) -- Russia may build a nuclear power plant in Sri Lanka in the long term as the country’s power demand is growing, Russian Ambassador to Colombo Yury Materiy told PRIME in an interview released on Tuesday.

“The Sri Lanka government favors ecologically clean energy. The key goal it sets is a gradual transfer to from the existing dirty energy to clean sources,” he said.

“This is why the use of nuclear power is promising here. Work on the matter has already started.”

In 2017, Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom and the relevant Sri Lankan agencies held the first consultations on the Russia-initiated cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear power.

“A nuclear power plant would the final result of intergovernmental cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear power. Considering the demonstrated interest and Sri Lanka’s progressive economic development, energy consumption is increasing significantly. In this context, the idea of building a nuclear power plant may well be discussed and may be implemented in the long-term perspective,” Materiy said.

He also said that Sri Lanka is interested in inviting Russian companies to oil and gas exploration and production in its northern part.

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