Unifying Energy of the Atom. Russia and France

On the 25th Anniversary of Rosenergoatom Concern

Rosenergoatom Concern
Électricité de France

Unifying Energy of the Atom. Russia and France.
On the 25th Anniversary of Rosenergoatom Concern

Rosenergoatom, one of the largest electric power companies in the world, celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2017, and for twenty-three of those years the concern has been in close cooperation with French giant Électricité de France (EDF) in literally all aspects of nuclear power unit operations: from personnel work to the organisation of efficacious purchases, from engineering and utilisation support to nuclear risks and insurance, ensuring the safe use of atomic energy in the 21st century.

For the third time Rosenergoatom marks these important events for the concern together with the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow.

As part of the celebrations for Rosenergoatom’s 25th jubilee the idea arose of creating a grandiose photo project able to reflect the scale of activity demonstrated by these leaders in the sphere of energy production. Twenty-five French and five Russian photographers were invited to participate in the project ‘Unifying Energy of the Atom. Russia and France’.

The French part of the exhibition presents a series of photo reportages about the work of the largest and most modern French nuclear power plants, and also about the people who daily monitor vitally important systems at these power plants, who carry out planned repairs or modernisation of equipment and train the company personnel.

The Russian photographers were given a special task. Each was dispatched on an assignment to one of Russia’s strategic atomic energy stations — the Kursk, Rostov, Leningrad, Novovoronezh and Beloyarsk plants, in order to relate their stories to exhibition visitors. Igor Vereshchagin, Timofei Parshikov, Zhenya Mironov, Ivan Mikhailov and Dmitry Lukyanov have compiled projects very different in form yet equally powerful in content as their contribution to the Russian section of the exhibit.

Igor Vereshchagin, who opened the biennale Fashion and Style in Photography 2017 and is recognised as a master of unstaged photo reports, tried his hand at shoots of industrial facilities while still retaining the vitality characteristic of his portraits, despite the severity and cyclopean dimensions of his new ‘heroes’.

Young and talented photographers Timofei Parshikov and Ivan Mikhailov have already collaborated with the Rosenergoatom Concern by producing photo series for the exhibition ‘Atomic Civilization’ (2012). In the photographs of Timofei Parshikov Novovoronezh NPP is transformed into a ready-made object of avant-garde art, while thanks to Ivan Mikhailov the intensely pragmatic interiors of Beloyarsk NPP are more reminiscent of an exquisite space station from the future.

Zhenya Mironov, a frequent participant in the Photobiennale and nominee for the Kandinsky Prize, also worked with Rosenergoatom when he devised a photo series for the exhibition ‘When from destruction the currents of new forces are created...’ (2014), marking the 60th anniversary of nuclear power. For his new project Mironov chose the principle of paired works in which the world of men and machines are united through colour and form.

Dmitry Lukyanov has managed to convey the magical beauty of the Leningrad NPP unit under construction and videotape how the robot installs ampoules with spent nuclear fuel in a special case for safe storage.

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Rosenergoatom Concern is the only company that operates nuclear power plants in Russia, and the world’s second largest energy company by quantity of power units. The concern includes 10 nuclear power plants with 35 power units, and directs stations and enterprises under construction that provide for the company’s activities. These nuclear power plants produce more than 18% of our country’s electricity.

Électricité de France, EDF (France) is the world leader for the number of operating nuclear power plants (58 power units), and European leader for electricity generation. EDF’s arsenal comprises not only NPPs that produce 75.5% of the energy generated by the company, but also thermal power plants, hydroelectric power stations and even renewable energy sources in the form of wind power.