On Oct. 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Rosatom Director-General Alexei Likhachev to review the performance of Rosatom, the State Atomic Energy Corporation. Likhachev noted that Rosatom had an annual revenue growth of 24%, about a third of which represents new products. The workforce exceeds 400,000 people, and spans the generations: a bit more than 30% composed of people aged 40 to 55, young people making up another third, and those over 50 a similar percentage—including some 80- and 90-year-olds whom he called “our pride and asset.”
The company is also working hard to educate a new generation of nuclear cadre with the establishment of Rosatom schools, Mendeleyev classes, engineering classes, and nuclear classes. “We work with over 100 flagship universities, traIning such a substantial reserve of young specialists,” Likhachev told the President.
Rosatom also plays an important role in the defense industry as well, Likhachev said, addressing three major issues: “ensuring nuclear parity, developing new weapons based on new physical principles, and advancing non-nuclear arms, including those for the needs of the special military operation.” In contrast with the situation during the Soviet period, where the defense industry was largely separate from the civilian economy, creating a great contrast between Soviet military power and the relative backwardness in the civilian economy, the defense industry is now integrated with the civilian industry. “The nuclear weapons complex serves as a supplier of sovereign technologies across our advanced industries,” Likhachev said, “including mechanical engineering, the digital economy, additive technologies, and materials science. This allows us to increase civilian goods output faster than planned.”
