An online beauty pageant has been launched in Russia, looking to find the new face of ' Miss nuclear reactor 2009'.

All 200 female participants have one thing in common: they are connected in some way to the nuclear power industry in Russia and other CIS countries.

Organisers of the event are trying to prove that the women who work within the industry have beauty as well as brains, as they compete for the title of Miss Atom 2009, a contest to promote nuclear energy.

Contestants complain of being  continually asked by friends whether they have two heads and four arms, but that just reflects wider concerns more prevalent in Russia's nuclear industry. 

More than twenty years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the worst nuclear disaster in history, people's thoughts are still drawn towards that dark side.  But of course the nuclear industry is crucial to Russia as it is building 40 new reactors, which means that new people and new blood are needed to keep the industry going. 

Industry officials have said that interest in the field has shot up since the competition began.

Blonde beauty Maria is an IT specialist  at the Kalinin atomic factory, and is going for the thinking mans vote.  She has  a degree in applied  mathematics and at the plant she maintains and develops computer systems.

Tanya - the nuclear engineer lists her hobbies as swimming and fitness.  She admits that friends are  confused and ask ' does she glow in the dark ? '

Although the contest has been attacked as being sexist, organiser Ilya Platonov insists that many lies existed within the nuclear industry especially after Chernobyl, but now normal people and even pretty girls work within the industry.

The event is a far cry from the normal events of the business with the Miss Atom 2009 winners being offered prizes of diamonds and all expenses paid holidays in Cuba