"In all appearance, the concern will be incorporated in the first half of 2007," Oleg Sarayev said at the ninth international nuclear forum in St. Petersburg.
"The incorporation will be held with 100% state property," he said.
Rosenergoatom's general director said in early September that the concern was planning to begin construction of nine nuclear power-generating units in 2007.
"Next year, we will work under entirely new conditions prompted by the market," Sergei Obozov said. "We have once again to prove our business efficiency."
Russia's nuclear industry is undergoing a major reorganization aimed at boosting nuclear energy production and increasing Russia's competitiveness on the global nuclear market.
Under a plan approved this summer by President Vladimir Putin, Russia will merge its civilian nuclear companies into one state company, Atomprom, to form a giant capable of competing on the world nuclear market.
"During the transitional period to Atomprom, of which we see ourselves as the core, we have to prove our soundness by improving [NPPs'] safety," Obozov said.
Rosenergoatom runs a total of 31 power-generating units at 10 of Russia's nuclear power plants.
If the plan is implemented, Atomprom will also absorb the civilian units of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency (Rosatom), including TVEL, the nuclear fuel producer and supplier, Tekhsnabexport (Tenex), the state-owned uranium trader, and Atomstroiexport, Russia's leading organization implementing intergovernmental agreements on the construction of nuclear facilities abroad.
Rosatom is set to amalgamate all of Russia's nuclear power generation, uranium production and enrichment, as well as the building and export of nuclear products.
