The Fourth Annual Conference on the outcome of CNCP activities took place from 18 to 20 July 2006 in Listvyanka, Irkutsk oblast. Representatives from the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) took part, as well as representatives of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), Heads of administration of the closed nuclear cities, managers of large nuclear enterprises, and CNCP experts. By tradition, Greg Kaiser, CNCP Programme Manager and Director of HTSPE Projects - Europe opened the Conference. Presentations were given by Trevor Hayward, Director of CNCP Programme, and Vladimir Georgievich Sterekhov, Nuclear Cities Programs Coordinator from Russia.

A forecast by Rosatom of a reduction in the number of jobs in the nuclear cities between 2006 and 2010 was considered to be one of the main factors underlining the current importance of CNCP. Around 13 000 nuclear weapons specialists are due to be made redundant within the next 5 years. Further job losses are likelly, particularly post 2011, when the plutonium reactor iat Zheleznogorsk is planned for closure.

The British side aims to support the creation of sustainable civil sector jobs for former nuclear weapons scientists and engineers, and assist in the commercialisation in five closed nuclear cities in Russia, as well as those in Kharkov, Almaty, Kurchatov and Tashkent. The aim is to create a highly efficient and productive management infrastructure to form the basis for the successful implementation of various Global Partnership projects with the overall budget of about £ 142 million. The Programme has led to the creation of upwards of 1,200 sustainable jobs in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Around 700 of these jobs will go to former nuclear specialists, a 55% increase on the numbers planned three years ago.

Programme Leader Patrick Gray and CNCP experts Mark Allington (commercial partnership), Chris Bailey (staff training), and Charles Monck (economic development) presented their reports.

The main part of the Conference was organised by city, with each session dedicated to activities of the Partnership within Snezhinsk, Ozersk, Sarov, Seversk and Zheleznogorsk. The last day of the Conference was given over to reports from colleagues from the International Science Technology Centre (ISTC) and Kazakhstan.

  Full Conference Report (doc, 83 Kb)