Putin signs decree on Russian nuclear giant -RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to reorganize Russia's nuclear sector by creating a state nuclear firm with global clout, sources told RIA news agency on Friday.

The Kremlin press service said Putin had signed a decree "On the Restructuring of Russia's Atomic Energy and Industrial Complex", but gave no other details.

Russia's is overhauling its nuclear sector to boost energy production and strengthening Russia's presence on the expanding world nuclear market.

Under the Russian plan, a state-owned company called Atomenergoprom will be created on the base of the smaller, sometimes overlapping, civilian nuclear companies in the sector.

"By January 1, 2008, the creation of Atomenergoprom will be concluded," the nuclear source told RIA. "Atomenergoprom will be unique."

Climate change and high oil prices have prompted many countries to look more favorably on nuclear energy as a cheap source of power. Russia already builds nuclear power stations around the world and wants to position itself to win more contracts.

Nuclear officials compare Atomenergoprom to state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, the world's biggest gas company by reserves, which has become a big geopolitical instrument for the Kremlin.

Companies such as Tekhsnabexport (Tenex), Russia's state-owned uranium trader, and TVEL, the state-owned nuclear fuel producer and trader, will be folded into Atomenergoprom, RIA said.

Competitors include French state-owned nuclear energy group Areva, European enriched uranium firm Urenco Ltd, and U.S.-based Westinghouse, which is owned by Japan's Toshiba Corp.