MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will work to boost the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and hopes the election of a new director general will advance joint projects, Russia's state nuclear corporation said on Friday.
Yukiya Amano, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations, gained two-thirds of votes from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors on Thursday.
Amano will take up the post on December 1, becoming the UN nuclear watchdog's fifth director general when he replaces Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei, who has been in office since 1997.
Russia's projects with the IAEA "include the establishment of an international uranium enrichment center in Angarsk and the creation of low-enriched uranium reserves under IAEA control, as well as an international project on innovative nuclear reactors and fuel cycles," Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said.
Russia proposed in 2007 the creation of a nuclear center in Angarsk, 5,100 km (3,170 miles) east of Moscow, to enable countries including Iran to develop civilian nuclear power without having to enrich their own uranium.
The planned network of uranium enrichment and storage centers would also be responsible for the disposal of nuclear waste.
The IAEA director general, who is elected for a term of four years, will be formally approved at the organization's general conference in Vienna in September.
