Russia is likely to join the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), following an official announcement from the Paris-based organisation that it has applied for membership.
The NEA said Russia would become the first non-member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to join its nuclear agency.
The NEA steering committee for nuclear energy has always backed Russian participation, “notably because of the country's sizable nuclear power programme and the mutual benefit that would ensue from such cooperation,” the NEA’s website says.
Russia has been involved in several NEA activities since the mid-1990s, with Russian experts participating as observers in NEA's nuclear installation safety committee and its nuclear regulatory activities committee.
In 2007 NEA signed a joint cooperation agreement with the country in order to foster research and innovative technology of nuclear activities.
