The deputy prime minister of Serbia, whose government is keen to overturn a ban on nuclear energy projects in the country, has held discussions with Rosatom about expanding cooperation in non-energy applications of nuclear technologies.

Rosatom said that during Director General Alexei Likhachev and Serbia’s Deputy PM Alexandar Vulin’s meeting (see picture above) they also discussed the involvement of Russian companies in projects in Serbia as well as the involvement of Serbian companies in projects taking place in third countries.

The construction of nuclear power plants, nuclear fuel production plants and plants for used nuclear fuel processing for nuclear power plants in Serbia has been forbidden since 1989 - in the wake of the Chernobyl accident - predating the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. That ban has stayed in place, although the current government is aiming to reverse it.

In March, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić told the Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels that Serbia’s government was aiming to win public support for an end to the nuclear energy ban and was seeking support from other countries on nuclear know-how and financing towards its goal of getting 1200 MW of capacity from small modular reactors.

Since then, France’s EDF and French engineering consultancy Egis have been awarded a contract by Serbia’s Ministry of Mining & Energy to conduct a preliminary technical study on the potential use of nuclear power in the country and the Serbian ministry has also gathered together experts and institutions from within the country and abroad to consider establishing a programme for nuclear energy with “the use of nuclear energy foreseen in one of the scenarios of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan”.

Talks have also been held with the International Atomic Energy Agency about cooperation in the development of a nuclear energy programme.