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Russia is building more than 10 nuclear power plants overseas, hoping to capitalize on growing energy demand driven by artificial intelligence and developing markets, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy said.
Moscow is redoubling its efforts to enhance its global influence by expanding its nuclear fleet, with nuclear power plants under construction in countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran and Turkey. Russia has increased its role as a major nuclear energy provider even as its oil and gas industry faces tough sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
Boris Titov, the Kremlin’s special representative for international cooperation on sustainable development, said the country wanted to consolidate its position as “one of the largest builders of new nuclear power plants in the world.”
He said Russia expected strong demand for nuclear power from developing countries hungry for clean energy and technology companies using artificial intelligence in data centers. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicted this year that by 2050, the world’s nuclear power generation capacity will increase by 155%, reaching 950 gigawatts.
“We are building more than 10 different units around the world,” Titov told the Financial Times. “We need a lot of energy. We can’t provide that energy without using . . . nuclear. We know it’s safe. . . . It’s not emitting [greenhouse gas emissions]so very clean.
An article published by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in the journal Nature Energy last year stated that Russia’s growing overseas nuclear investment portfolio, including reactor construction, fuel supply and other services, spans 54 countries.
Titov mentioned the Paks 2 factory in Hungary as well as factories in Bangladesh and Türkiye. Russia is also expected to build a small modular reactor factory in Uzbekistan and sign an agreement with Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta in 2023. New reactor construction.
As Western governments try to counter Russia’s nuclear weapons superiority, the United States banned the import of Russian enriched uranium in May.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most Eastern European countries, with the exception of Hungary, have signed contracts for fuel developed by U.S. company Westinghouse Electric Company for Soviet-era reactors.
As part of a wider push to achieve the indicative goal of no more imports of Russian fuel by 2027, new EU energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen said he wanted to examine the “complete nuclear supply chain”.
But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said they would block any measures to limit Russia’s civilian nuclear industry.
After his meeting with Putin on Sunday, Fico said in a Facebook post that potential sanctions on Russia would “cause economic damage and jeopardize electricity production at Slovakia’s nuclear power plants, which is unacceptable.”
But a senior EU official said fears that Russia could cause a severe nuclear fuel shortage in the EU, like a natural gas shortage in 2022, were overblown.
“Rosatom has solid vested interests,” they added.
A more pressing issue is U.S. sanctions on Gazprombank, the main conduit for energy payments to Russia. These measures exempt civilian nuclear energy except Hungary’s Paks 2 nuclear power plant. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called the selection of the new factory a “completely political decision.”
Many developing countries are looking to nuclear energy to meet their clean energy needs, providing Russia with more potential markets.
Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Nick Nazmi Nick Ahmad, told the Financial Times that the country was “looking into the introduction of nuclear energy”.
He said all the “major players” were “working with [Malaysian] government’s views on potential projects, but did not mention specific countries.
Speaking at the U.N. COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November, Jake Levine, senior director for climate and energy at the U.S. National Security Council, said Washington was concerned about countries turning to China or Russia for nuclear power.
He added that the industry’s global competitiveness was a “big issue”.
Additional reporting by Anastasia Stognei, Polina Ivanova and Raphael Minder
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