Kommersant: nuclear plant builders in Dimitrovgrad went on strike due to non-payment of wages

About 300 people involved in the construction of a nuclear research facility based on the multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR) in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region, went on strike, Kommersant writes.

The construction is being carried out by JSC Institute Orgenergostroy. On Wednesday, November 5, employees took to the square in front of the company’s office in Dimitrovgrad, demanding payment of salary arrears. The builders recorded an appeal to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, in which they reported that since September they have not been paid wages (since June they have been paid with delays), since May-June they have not been compensated for travel expenses, and since August they have not been paid vacation pay. Dismissed employees have not been able to receive the payments due to them for more than two months.

The employees stated that they were stopping work until wages were paid and, as required by Russian law, made a collective statement to the company management and to the regional labor inspectorate.

At the same time, one of the employees told Kommersant that some employees “no longer see positive prospects, fear the bankruptcy of the company and are already writing resignation letters.”

The Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for the Ulyanovsk Region and the prosecutor’s office announced the start of an investigation into “the reasons for the delay in payments.” The governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexey Russkikh, in turn, instructed the regional Agency for the Development of Human Potential and the Labor Inspectorate to “join in the protection of the rights of workers of the Dimitrovgrad Orgenergostroy.”

The general contract for the construction of a nuclear research facility based on the Multipurpose Fast Neutron Research Reactor (MBIR) was signed at the end of 2020. The cost of the contract was 33.396 billion rubles.

Construction is expected to be completed by July 2027. It is still unknown whether the builders' strike will affect the completion date of the project, the publication notes.

• The Russian authorities attach special importance to the construction of the MBIR reactor, Kommersant writes. Thus, President Vladimir Putin at the end of September, speaking at the International Forum “World Atomic Week,” called the development of Russian scientists and engineers “revolutionary,” in which “95% of spent fuel will be reused repeatedly in reactors.” Testing of “the entire range of advanced materials for a closed cycle,” he said, is planned to be carried out on the basis of the International Research Center, which is being created on the basis of the MBIR reactor under construction.