Oil, gas reserves in Arctic comparable to Gulf, W Siberia-scientist.

MOSCOW, September 25 (Itar-Tass) -- The amount of identified
hydrocarbon reserves in the Arctic is the world's third largest after the Persian Gulf and Western Siberia.

To this day there have been discovered six major oil and gas provinces and two oil and gas fields, and the most
likely estimate of the initial resources in them is 51 billion tonnes of
oil and 87 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, the deputy director of
the Institute of Oceanology for geological matters, Associate Member of
the Russian Academy of Sciences Leopold Lobkovsky told the International
Arctic Forum in Moscow this week.
"In general, the Arctic is a third world oil and gas province,
comparable to the Persian Gulf and Western Siberia," said the scientist.
The size of the natural resources of this region requires international
cooperation in their research and development, Lobkovsky remarked with
certainty. In addition, he noted the large deposits of diamonds, nickel,
chromium, manganese, tungsten and rare metals and gold. These resources
will take large investments and modern technologies to extract, and for
that reason there naturally appears what he described as a "territory for
dialogue."
As another "natural area of cooperation" the scientist described
research and exploration in the shelf zone of the Arctic. At this point,
he said, the best-studied areas are the Barents Sea and Kara Sea. A far
worse situation is in the eastern part of the Russian shelf, where
"literally blank spots" still remain. The current pace of offshore
operations as it is, it will require 120 years to obtain a sufficient
amount of research data", says the geologist. Therefore, he is convinced
that "shelf exploration is in need of a dramatic increase in investment,
for which purpose foreign companies should be attracted."
In addition, there exists such a major resource potential, still to be
explored, as gas hydrate fields in the Eastern Arctic, said Lobkovsky.
Humanity has not yet learned how to extract these resources, but they must
be carefully studied, as they play a critical role in climate change.
Through small cracks and crevices in the Earth's crust, he said, methane
escapes into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas and it is
directly "responsible" for the global warming. "The process of methane
emissions is an established fact, the scientist said. "There is a clear
link between this phenomenon and the high temperature background in the
region."

.Ukraine lets Canadian reactors participate in NPP bidding contests.

KIEV, September 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine has allowed the Canadian
reactors CANDU to participate in nuclear power plant construction tenders,
Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy Natalya Shumkova told a
conference at the forum Energy of Ukraine: the Present and the Future,
this week.
"Positive conclusions have been received. CANDU reactors can be
considered as candidates for further construction at Ukrainian sites," the
official said.
Shumkova recalled that the price of nuclear power plant-generated
electricity in Ukraine remained the lowest in the world. At present, its
cost is a tiny two cents per one kilowatt-hour.
"Nuclear power industry workers have lived through another very
difficult year, but we have retained our leading role in the energy
balance. Our 48-49-percent generation are a pre-requisite for the
industrial development of our country," Shumkova said. Despite the low
rates, nuclear power industry workers solved the problem of reactors'
safety.
Pilot projects to improve security have been implemented 97 percent. A
program for activities has been completed following the launches of
newly-built reactors - the second unit at Khmelnitsky NPP and the fourth
unit at the Rovno nuclear power plant. Shumkova said she hoped that in
December a license will be issued to extend the operation of the first and
second units of the Rovno nuclear power plant.
The deputy fuel and energy minister also said that the Ukrainian
reactors would have guaranteed fuel supplies for a long period by virtue
of contracts with the Russian company TVEL and the U.S. company
Westinghouse.
Shumkova added that by October 1 the government's decision was
expected to approve the choice of a Russian technology to build a nuclear
fuel production plant in Ukraine.

.Most Russians spent summer at home, without going anywhere - poll.

MOSCOW, September 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Most Russians (62 percent) spent
last summer at home, without going anywhere: 40 percent said they did not
have enough money for a trip, while 22 percent preferred to dedicate
themselves to domestic chores, as follows from a survey conducted by the
national public opinion studies center VTsIOM (of VCIOM).
According to the pollster, 17 percent of Russians spent vacation at
their dachas - cottages livable mostly during summer time. Far more rarely
those interviewed said they had traveled to other cities in Russia (8
percent), or to the Black Sea coast (7 percent). Even fewer spent their
summer holiday at some other place in the territory of the former Soviet
Union (2 cent ), the Crimea (1 pct) or abroad (2 percent).
A vast majority of respondents who managed to travel said they were
quite pleased with their vacation (87 percent). And only 11 percent said
they remained dissatisfied.
As for those who stayed at home or were in the countryside near the
city, only one in two in this group was satisfied with their holiday (50
percent), and 41 percent of these respondents remained discontent.
As the main reason why they were unhappy with their summer vacation a
plurality of Russians (42 percent) mentioned the lack of opportunities to
go places they would like to.
The average budget of holiday this year was 15,338 rubles per person.
The opinion poll was conducted on September 18-19. The pollster
interviewed 1,600 men and women of age in 140 villages and cities in 42
regions, territories and republics of Russia. The statistical error did
not exceed 3.4 percent.

-0-str