Nearly a quarter-century after the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in Soviet Ukraine, Russia has been making deals with energy-starved nations all over the globe to help them build new nuclear power plants using Russian second-generation reactor technology.
At the same time, the federation has been securing uranium resources abroad: In 2009, the state’s uranium holding arm (and Russia’s only uranium miner) Atomredmetzoloto began collecting assets all over the world—mainly in African states, but even becoming the largest shareholder in Canadian uranium miner Uranium One. As Atomredmetzoloto official Vadim Zhivov told Russian magazine Atomic Energy, the stockpiling was prompted by a uranium crisis before 2007 in which Russia, second in the world in terms of reserves, couldn’t even meet the needs of its own operating nuclear plants. Asked directly about Russia’s strategy in the world’s uranium market, Zhivov responded that though state-owned Rosatom controlled 40% of the world’s enrichment capacities, its position in natural uranium was weaker, and that the federation was looking to eliminate that “imbalance.”
Will Moscow’s nuclear power expansion plans eventually pay off for the country, and what could this mean for the world’s nuclear industry? Time will tell, but here are a few recent developments that indicate the scope of Russia’s nuclear export ambitions.
India
India and Russia in March agreed on the construction of four more water-cooled, water-moderated energy reactors (VVER-1000) during India’s 12th Plan period (2012–2017)—two at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, and two at Haripur in West Bengal. Russia is already building two VVER-1000s at Kudankulam, one of which is expected to go critical this September and the other one six months later (Figure 3). The March agreement called for progressive “indigenization” of the reactors. This means that while India’s Department of Atomic Energy will consider construction of more Russian reactors during the formulation of the 13th Plan period, the pact ordains that India will build the reactors while Russia will supply the equipment and components.
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| 3. Nuclear expansion. Several countries stricken with power shortages have recently made, or are considering, agreements with Russia for new nuclear power plants. Russian state-owned company AtomStroyExport is currently building two VVER-1000 reactors at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, India’s first large nuclear power plant. The first of those units is expected to go critical this September and the other one six months later. Courtesy: AtomStroyExport |
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