A leading Russian nuclear energy official has said Russia plans to build at least fifteen new nuclear reactors by the year 2010 as part of a strategy to develop civil atomic energy.

The official, Yevgeny Ignatenko -- the head of the state- run nuclear power operator, Rosenergoatom -- said Russia hoped that construction costs would be helped with credits from the European Union.

The anti-nuclear enviromental organisation, Greenpeace has described the plans as controversial and absurd.

Its representative in Russia, said that the Russian nuclear industry had not managed to address important questions such as plant safety and nuclear waste disposal.