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Russia Involved in Over a Third of Newly Built Nuclear Reactors Worldwide, Says FT
Article:
Russia is playing a significant role in the global nuclear energy scene, with President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for international cooperation on sustainable development revealing that the country is now building or involved in over 10 nuclear power plants abroad. This information was reported by Financial Times.
Boris Titov, the Kremlin’s special representative, predicts high demand for nuclear power from developing countries seeking cleaner energy sources. He also identified technology companies requiring large amounts of electricity for data centers powering artificial intelligence as a key target market.
Russia has ongoing projects in countries such as China, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Egypt, and Turkey. Notably, Russia has been part of a large-scale project in Hungary. Additionally, Russia is expected to build reactors in Uzbekistan and has signed agreements with the military junta in Burkina Faso. According to the Financial Times, Russia has its finger in the pie in more than one-third of new nuclear reactors being constructed worldwide.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently revised its outlook for nuclear power, with an optimistic scenario predicting a tripling of global nuclear capacity by 2050.
"Without nuclear power, we wouldn’t be able to meet our energy needs," Titov told Financial Times.
However, the EU and the USA are actively working to counter Russia’s progress in the international nuclear market. In May, the US banned imports of Russian-enriched uranium, which previously accounted for 24% of uranium supplies in American nuclear power plants.
The EU, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has been endeavoring to make Europe independent of Russian energy imports. Most Eastern European countries operating nuclear power plants currently import uranium from the US, not Russia.
Exceptions include EU outlier Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Robert Fico in Slovakia, who have openly supported preserving the Russian nuclear industry. Fico is currently negotiating to continue Russian gas supplies to Slovakia via pipelines in Ukraine.
In a recent Facebook post, Ficostated that potential sanctions against the Russian nuclear program would "damage Slovakia economically and threaten electricity production in Slovakia’s nuclear power plants, which is unacceptable."