On 10 August, 2017 in Moscow at the Multimedia Art Museum a unique joint photo project of two world leaders in the area of nuclear power generation – Rosenergoatom Concern JSC and Électricité de France (EDF) (France) was opened.

Photo project called Uniting Atom Energy. Russia and France is coincided with Rosenergoatom Concern 25th anniversary (is a part of Electric power division of Rosatom SC). The Concern is the largest generating company in Russia and the world’s second on the volume of nuclear generating capacities.

More than 20 years, the Concern works closely with EDF – the state energy generating company of France. It is the largest nuclear operator in the world and is the European leader in electric energy generation in all areas of nuclear power plants’ operation – from personnel management, organization of efficient purchase and engineering to operation support and insurance.

In order to participate in the unique international photo project that allows to render the range of activity of two nuclear power leaders 25 French and 5 Russian photographers were invited. Thus, the photo exhibition consists of two parts.

French part represents a series of photographic reports about the work of the largest and most modern French NPPs, as well as people who carry out a day-to-day control over plants’ vital systems, conduct scheduled repair and modernization, train company’s personnel.

Five Russian photographers – Igor Vereschagin, Timofey Parschikov, Zhenya Mironov, Ivan Mikhaylov and Dmitriy Lukyanov – got a special mission. Each one of them set off for an assignment at one of the Russian NPPs – Kursk, Rostov, Leningrad, Novovoronezh and Beloyarsk in order to tell the spectators their stories and create projects of various forms, but strong in their content that have become the Russian part of exhibition.

Igor Vereschagin - who was discovered at Fashion and style at photo-2017 biennale – is the master of photojournalism. He first tried his hand in photographing of industrial facilities having preserved peculiar to his photos vividness despite the severity and megalomanic sizes of his new ‘characters’. 

Young and talented photographers Timofey Parschikov and Ivan Mikhaylov have already cooperated with Rosenergoatom Concern having taken a series of photos for Nuclear civilization exhibition (2012). At Timofey Perschikov’s photos Novovoronezh NPP transformed into a stock object of bleeding edge art, and due to Ivan Mikhaylov strictly pragmatic interiors of Beloyarsk NPP resembled fascinating futuristic cosmic station.

Zhenya Mironov - Photobiennale continuous participant and nominee of Kandinsky prize – also cooperated with Rosenergoatom. He created a series of photos for the exhibition When the currents of the new forces are created from the destruction (2014) that was coincided with 60 anniversary of nuclear power industry. For his new project Mironov chose a principle of paired effect - where he used colour and form to create combined world of people and machines.

Dmitriy Lukyanov managed to demonstrate the magical beauty of Leningrad NPP’s power unit under construction and capture on video how robot placed the spent nuclear fuel capsules in the special case for their safety.