COUNTRY FOCUS | RUSSIA
of Rusatom Overseas, which is responsible for promoting Rosatom projects abroad. The restrictions affected the Kovrov Mechanical Plant and Tochmash, which produce centrifuges for uranium enrichment. Following US sanctions, five G7 countries – the UK,
Canada, the US, France and Japan – have agreed to withdraw from cooperation with Russia in the nuclear energy market as part of moves to weaken the country’s hold on the nuclear sector. Specific plans have not been announced yet, but it is expected that the alliance primarily plans to replace the supply of uranium fuel, as well as reduce the overall dependence of other countries on Russian technologies, equipment and materials. The prospects for Rosatom in the East and South look
better than in the West. In addition to exporting fuel and fuel components, Rosatom continues to build nuclear reactors in China, India, Turkey, Bangladesh and Egypt (these countries have not announced their own sanctions against Russia, but they try not to violate the restrictions imposed by other states). The state corporation also plans to expand its presence on the African continent. In the case of Africa, currently the company continues to
Above: Temelin in the Czech Republic is looking to switch away from Russian fuel
The contract for the completion of the station, for which
Moscow provided a US$10bn loan to Budapest, was signed back in 2014. However, it is not entirely clear whether this project will be implemented. At the end of April, it was reported that the Hungarian government is now searching for alternative contractors for the project. In recent years, Ukraine has also been trying to replace
Russian fuel. It is expected that starting from next year all power units of Ukrainian nuclear power plants remaining under the control of Kyiv, will switch to Westinghouse products. However, despite moves to ramp up production of
alternatives to Rosatom’s TVEL fuel the transition of European countries to alternative sources may be delayed for years (according to various estimates, from 7-10 years). The Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Finland have already signed agreements with Westinghouse for future nuclear fuel deliveries. Prague and Sofia report they will be able to switch to American supplies as early as 2024-2025, while Helsinki will follow in 2027-2030. At the same time, it is difficult to overcome dependence
on Russian imports of enriched uranium and services for its conversion and enrichment. Rosatom provides about 20% of the enriched uranium for the United States. In 2022, the United States imported US$829.8m-worth of Russian uranium (about the same amount it purchased in 2021), and in January 2023 another US$70m. France, which also has its own enrichment facilities, imported uranium from Russia to the sum of US$377.5m, which is about 3.5 times more than in 2021. State subsidies, cheap electricity and lower environmental standards make the Russian nuclear products very attractive to foreign customers.
Routes to replacing Russia Currently Russian nuclear sector in general and Rosatom in particular is not a subject of sectoral sanctions by the EU and the US. At the end of February, however, the UK imposed personal sanctions against Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, other top managers of the state corporation, as well as several research institutes that are part of the structure of the state corporation. In April, the United States joined the targeted sanctions movement by the inclusion
20 | August 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com
build El Dabaa, the first nuclear power plant on the African continent with generation III+ reactors. “This nuclear power plant will provide 30 TWh per year to Egypt and will prevent the emission of 15 million tons of carbon annually – a huge contribution to the country’s green energy future,” said as Kirill Komarov, Director of the Department of International Business of Rosatom. China and other non-Western countries are also unlikely
to fully replace Russia with the Western market for in terms of contracts and their volumes. Most analysts, also believe that Western countries are currently not ready to eliminate all nuclear products from Russia. In the event of interruptions in Russian nuclear exports
to Western markets, there may be a shortage of cobalt-60 or cesium-137 in both the EU and the US, for example. These isotopes are used for radiation therapy, the sterilisation of medical equipment and foodstuffs, and industrial seam welding. Problems with the supply of actinium-225 and
tungsten-188 may also pose a threat to radionuclide therapy for cancer patients. The cessation of Russian exports of californium-252 will delay the launch of a nuclear power plant in France, since californium is used in reactors as the initiator of a chain reaction. Even the United States depends on the supply of 44 isotopes from Russia. In particular, technetium-99 is produced from Russian molybdenum-99, which is used annually in millions of medical imaging procedures in the United States. Russia is currently the only supplier of barium-132, which is used in oil and gas processing. Moreover, Russia supplies iridium-192, which is used to check for leaks in pipelines. Ultimately though, despite the importance of the nuclear
sector, Rosatom’s external projects do not bring Russia nearly as much profit as the oil and gas industry. In 2021, Rosatom transferred RUB250 billion (US$2,67 billion) in taxes to the state budget, while revenues from gas and oil at the same time amounted to RUB9 trillion (US$90 billion). Despite the complex geopolitics and the growing
pressure on the Russian economy, Rosatom hopes that implementation of the majority of its key projects will continue and it will retain its status as one of the world’s leading corporations in the field of nuclear power. ■
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