Russia’s Nuclear Sector Capitalizes on Global Nuclear Revival

Executive Summary:

• Russia remains at the forefront of global nuclear innovation, leveraging state-owned enterprise Rosatom to expand partnerships, build reactors, and strengthen relationships with non-Western nations. This gives Moscow more avenues to bolster its economy amid Western sanctions.
• Rosatom is currently conducting $200 billion in projects across 40 international sites, including advanced reactor development in Uzbekistan, plants in Türkiye, Latin America, and Africa, and investments in uranium enrichment and nuclear medicine applications.
• Russia’s sustained investment in nuclear energy positions it as a key player in decarbonized power. This strategy strengthens Moscow’s economic ties with strategic partners and drives long-term growth in energy exports.

Nuclear power is becoming increasingly vital, with Russia surging ahead of other countries in nuclear development. In 2025, Russia celebrates 80 years of its nuclear industry , with plans for theatrical performances, concerts, and exhibits to illustrate its history following World War II, as well as the future of nuclear technology in the 21st century (MTsVP, October 29, 2024). On January 17, Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership, which includes plans to collaborate on developing nuclear power plants in Iran. Specifically, negotiations about a new nuclear power plant and the possible construction of small modular reactors (SMRs)  in addition to Iran’s “Bushehr” nuclear power plant were mentioned (TASS, January 17; World Nuclear News, January 20). While much of the industrialized world wavered and debated the role of nuclear power over the past four decades due to the disasters at Chernobyl, Fukushima, and a few other high-profile incidents, Russia’s nuclear industry has pressed ahead.

Three decades after the transition to capitalism, the state-owned enterprise Rosatom, a corporation specializing in nuclear energy, remains one of the largest employers in Russia, with over 400,000 employees as of 2023 (Vedomosti, November 1, 2024). The company has continued to attract new talent into the nuclear industry, with 70 percent of employees hired between 2023 and 2024 being under the age of 40, often including graduates of 20 different nuclear engineering and technology facilities across the country that operate in tandem with Rosatom (Strana-Rosatom, June 26, 2024; RIA Novosti, December 20, 2024).

Rosatom is actively competing with the United States, South Korea, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the nuclear industry by pursuing the development of a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors. Rosatom has already signed a contract to construct its first SMR in Uzbekistan with a capacity of 330 megawatts (Kun.uz, September 11, 2024). A similar reactor is being built in Yakutia, Russia, and is planned to begin operations in 2028. A memorandum on the development of such a reactor was signed with Mongolia in 2023, and Rosatom is actively exploring further opportunities around the world (Vedomosti, May 28, 2024). In Türkiye, Rosatom is building the country’s first nuclear power plant. This $20 billion project is entirely financed by Russia and is projected to be able to meet up to 10 percent of the country’s energy needs (Atommedia, March 21, 2024; Atomnaya Energiya, June 27, 2024; Akkuyu Nuclear, Rosatom, accessed January 23).

Rosatom is also constructing a large power plant in Seversk, Russia, hoping to be the first facility in the world with the ability to continuously reuse spent nuclear fuel. This plant will use 4th-generation technology, including the BREST-300 reactor, for more fission reactions, which would reduce the need for continuous supplies of additional enriched fissionable fuel (Strana-Rosatom, December 25, 2024). Rosatom is also the global leader in uranium enrichment for nuclear fuel and supplies the United States, France, and South Korea with enriched uranium (Rossisskaya Gazeta, November 16, 2024).

Rosatom is currently under contract to build 40 international installations, with 25 currently under construction (URA.RU, October 15, 2024). The company’s CEO, Aleksei Likhachev, stated that the total value of the firm’s 10-year contracts was $200 billion in November 2023, with an anticipated $18 billion in revenue from foreign projects for 2025 (Interfax, November 28, 2023; TASS, October 14, 2024).

In South America, Rosatom opened a Center of Operations for Latin America in Rio De Janeiro in 2015 and is actively pursuing different projects across the continent (Strana-Rosatom, July 22, 2024). This includes applying nuclear technology in the field of medicine and building the Nuclear Research and Technology Center in Bolivia, the largest project the company has undertaken thus far in Latin America. The Center will offer radiopharmaceutical treatments and other forms of nuclear medicine (Vedomosti, November 1, 2024). Rosatom is also actively pursuing lithium mining projects in Latin America via a subsidiary, Uranium One, which has traditionally specialized in uranium mining (RBC, June 29, 2023).

In Egypt, a country with a rapidly growing population and limited domestic energy options, Rosatom opened an office in 2023 as part of the construction of the continent’s first nuclear power plant, which began in 2015 (Vedomosti, January 24, 2024). Other large nuclear power plants are under construction in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India. These projects signal new bilateral relationships or continued dependence on Moscow for energy needs. This can be seen in Hungary’s Paks II Plant, which is being mainly built by Rosatom, and is also evident in plans to build smaller reactors in Kyrgyzstan (TASS, March 25, 2024).

This strategic push fits part and parcel with Moscow’s continued drive to enhance economic relationships with the non-Western world via BRICS (a loose political-economic grouping originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and other initiatives. As Western democracies have wavered in their plans to pursue nuclear technology in the wake of Fukushima, Moscow has continued to invest in an expansion of nuclear power, and this bet is paying off as the rest of the world slowly recognizes the necessity of nuclear energy as an essential component of decarbonized power generation.

Analysts studying the implications of Russia’s energy exports have traditionally spent much of their focus on the country’s vast hydrocarbon reserves as well as Moscow’s continuing control over many pipelines across Eurasia (see EDM, April 11, 2013, January 31, 2014, March 29, 2017, November 19, 2020, May 24, 2023). As global energy demands continue to grow, particularly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Russia’s unwavering commitment to nuclear power is a strategic advantage that will continue to both bring in revenue to the sanctioned, commodities-heavy economy and bolster its relationships with strategic partners over the coming decades.