Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Nuclear Power Agency, said Sergei Kiriyenko dismissed Sergei Vostrikov from his post and appointed Alexander Putilov in his place.
A spokesperson for the Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management said specialists from Russia's technical standards body had been conducting checks at the institute for a week. They found that recommendations made during a previous inspection had not been fully implemented and violations had continued.
The spokesperson said unsatisfactory registration procedures and control over nuclear and radioactive substances at the scientific and research institute "resulted from insufficient attention by the administration [to the problem]."