Russia continues to dominate the international nuclear energy scene.
After a decade of declining investment, rich economies are rethinking nuclear power in the face of a global energy crisis and a race to decrease emissions.
Especially compelling is the need for European countries to wean themselves off Russian fossil fuels in order to deprive the Kremlin of resources for its invasion of Ukraine.
Nevertheless, due to Russia’s extensive involvement in the nuclear industry, even a switch to nuclear power may not erase a country’s need on the country for its energy needs.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there were 437 active reactors across the globe in 2021. This number does not include reactors that have been temporarily shut down. Some 42 reactors (or 10%) around the world use VVER technology developed by the Soviet Union. Other countries’ designs include the USA, Canada, Germany, and France. With 15 operational reactors, Ukraine has the largest VVER fleet outside of Russia, followed by the Czech Republic with 6 reactors utilizing the technology.
VVER is also used in 21 of the 52 reactors being constructed elsewhere in the world besides Russia. The top three are China (4), India (2), and Turkey (1), with other nations including Bangladesh (2), Egypt (2), and Iran (1) also adopting Russian technology.
According to World Nuclear Association analyst Jonathan Cobb, “the Russian reactor program itself was very active” over the past decade, when many of these projects’ contracts were signed, explaining why there are so many reactors planned in Russia being built at the moment.
Like taking a trip back in time to the ’70s and ’80s. Because Westinghouse was such a prominent builder in the United States, its technology eventually found its way into homes across the globe, he continued.
Tim Stone, chairman of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association, stated that Russia was “very aggressively” marketing its technology. “What the Russian government has done is provide much more of a soup-to-nuts service for those nuclear programs [in other countries].”
In 2021, Russia was also the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer. Most nuclear power plants use enriched fuel, and Rosatom, which is owned by the Russian government, supplies around 40 percent of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity.
