CRINES Director Prof. H. Sekimoto and CRINES Professor A. Minato visited the National University of Mongolia on December 24-25, 2007. They discussed the future energy situation in Mongolia, university-level education and research issues in nuclear engineering and agreed on topics of study in preparation for the next visit.

On the second day, they woke early to tour the largest power and heat supply plant in Mongolia. Designated TPP4, it boasts an output of 540 MW of electric power and 1185 Gcal of heat. Profs. Sekimoto and Minato visited another coal-fired plant in the town of Zuunmod Sum (pop. 10,000), Tuv Province. These visits were an opportunity to study how heat is supplied to customers in Mongolia. In Zuunmod Sum, they were shown another defunct large-scale heat supply plant in the town. It was constructed by the former Soviet Union but had been forced to shut down soon after commencing operations.