Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up for the myFT Digest of Russian Politics, delivered straight to your inbox.
Russia is building more than 10 nuclear facilities abroad as it seeks to take advantage of rising energy demand from artificial intelligence and developing markets, according to President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy.
The Russian government is stepping up efforts to increase its global influence by expanding its nuclear fleet, and is building nuclear power plants in countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran and Turkey. Russia has strengthened its role as a major nuclear energy supplier after the invasion of Ukraine, even though its oil and gas sector faces tough sanctions.
Boris Titov, the Kremlin’s special representative for international cooperation on sustainability, said the country wants to consolidate its position as “one of the world’s largest builders of new nuclear power plants.”
He said Russia expects strong demand for nuclear power from developing countries seeking cleaner energy sources and technology companies leveraging AI in data centers. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicted this year that global nuclear power capacity will increase by 155% to 950 gigawatts by 2050.
“We have more than 10 different units under construction around the world,” Titov told the Financial Times. “We need a lot of energy. We cannot provide this energy without using . . . nuclear. We know it is safe. . . (Greenhouse effect) It’s very clean because it doesn’t emit any gas.”
Russia’s overseas nuclear power portfolio, which includes reactor construction, fuel supply and other services, is expanding and extends to 54 countries, according to a paper published last year in the journal Nature Energy by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. I’m reading.
Titov pointed to two Pax factories in Hungary, as well as factories in Bangladesh and Türkiye. Russia also plans to build a plant with small modular nuclear reactors in Uzbekistan and has signed an agreement with Burkina Faso’s ruling military government in 2023. The FT reported this year that Russia is involved in more than a third of the new nuclear reactors being built around the world.
Western governments have sought to counter Russia’s nuclear superiority, with the United States banning imports of enriched uranium from Russia in May.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most Eastern European countries except Hungary have signed contracts for fuel developed by the American company Westinghouse to fit Soviet-era nuclear reactors.
New EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen will investigate a “complete nuclear supply chain” as part of a broader effort to reach the suggestive goal of zero fuel imports from Russia by 2027 He said he wanted to.
However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Roberto Fico said they would block any measures to restrict Russia’s civil nuclear energy industry.
After Sunday’s meeting with President Putin, Fico said in a Facebook post that potential sanctions against Russia would be “economically damaging and jeopardize the production of electricity from Slovakia’s nuclear power plants, and we do not accept them.” I can’t do it,” he said.
Recommended
But concerns that Russia could cause a major nuclear fuel shortage in the region, similar to its gas supply in 2022, are overblown, a senior EU official said.
“Rosatom has a vested interest in being reliable,” they added.
A more pressing issue is US sanctions on Gazprombank, a major conduit for energy payments to Russia. The measure exempted civil nuclear energy, with the exception of Hungary’s Paks 2 nuclear power plant. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the withdrawal of the new factory was a “completely political decision”.
Many developing countries are turning to nuclear power to meet their clean energy requirements, providing more potential markets for Russia.
Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, told the Financial Times that the country is “studying the introduction of nuclear power.”
He said all “major players” were “in discussions with the (Malaysian) government” about potential projects, without mentioning specific countries.
Speaking at the United Nations COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November, Jake Levin, senior climate and energy director at the National Security Council, said the United States is concerned about countries relying on China and Russia for nuclear power. said.
International competitiveness in the industry is a “huge issue”, he added.
Additional reporting by Anastasia Stognei, Polina Ivanova and Raphael Minder
climate change capital
Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Find out more about FT’s coverage here.
Interested in learning about FT’s commitment to environmental sustainability? Learn more about our science-based goals.
