Akhir 11, 1432 H/March 16, 2011, SPA -- Japan's nuclear crisis is escalating according to the worst case scenario, potentially damaging future demand for atomic power stations, Reuters quoted the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation as saying on Wednesday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said atomic energy was safe if used properly, and he and visiting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the two states would go ahead with plans for Russia to build Turkey's first nuclear power station. Japan is struggling to avert a catastrophe at a nuclear power station damaged by the worst earthquake in its recorded history. Sergei Kiriyenko, who presides over the bulk of the former Soviet Union's military and civilian nuclear facilities, told Reuters: "Unfortunately, the situation is developing under the worst scenario." "We forecasted the scenario under which the other reactors would be affected, which unfortunately happened yesterday. So the worst scenario has been confirmed," he said. Russia still did not have full information from Japan on the situation, Kiriyenko said, so Russian experts were having to model developments at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, some 800 km (500 miles) southwest of the Russian city of Vladivostok. Kiriyenko, who often accompanies Russian leaders on trips abroad to seal multi-billion dollar nuclear deals, said the crisis was likely to have a negative impact on Russia's booming overseas nuclear power station construction business. "Of course it will have an effect," he said when asked if it would hurt Russian sales of nuclear power stations.
