The Russian state corporation “Rosatom” has announced new projects for Minsk. Specialists of the corporation concluded that the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Belarus has led to a comprehensive cooperation program, ranging from medical projects to digital products and additive technologies. As of now, there is no talk of constructing a second NPP in the country.
On October 17, the structures of the Russian state corporation “Rosatom” and the state enterprise “Belenergo” signed a document on cooperation in the implementation of joint projects aimed at modernizing and digitizing the infrastructure of Belarus’ unified energy system. Additionally, “Rosatom” signed a cooperation agreement with a major Belarusian logistics operator — the state-owned company “Beltamozhservice,” headed by Dmitry Kovalenok, a former customs official. The essence of the deal is to properly promote Belarusian goods along the Northern Sea Route. Almost simultaneously, the nuclear engineers and “Russian Post” agreed on cooperation in the field of digital technologies. Moreover, the state holding committed to promoting the Trusted Industrial Network (TIN), which will support domestic interfaces and protocols. The network is planned to be launched in Russia by 2030.
But what about the construction of the second NPP in Belarus, which has been discussed for the past two years? No major decision (in particular, regarding granting Minsk a new loan) has been made yet. Therefore, the Russian state corporation has focused on “diversifying” its business — developing import-substitution projects not directly related to its core activities. This is largely due to the sanctions from Ukraine and the U.S., which in May 2023 for the first time imposed sanctions on Russia’s nuclear industry.
In February 2024, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, stated: “In general opinion, imposing sanctions on ‘Rosatom’ is unrealistic and impractical. This would bring the nuclear industry in many countries to a standstill.” So far, however, there is no sign of this standstill: 64 nuclear reactors are under construction worldwide, most of them in China — 30 reactors. India is second with 7 reactors under construction. Russia, Turkey, and Egypt each have 4 reactors under construction. South Korea, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Japan, and Ukraine are each building 2 nuclear reactors.
Most of the world’s nuclear industries are, in fact, not dependent (at least critically) on Russia — neither technologically nor in terms of uranium fuel production. According to 2023 data, Russia ranked sixth with a 5.5% market share. The world leader in uranium fuel production is Kazakhstan (45.1% in 2023), followed by Namibia (11.9%), Canada (9.7%), Australia (8.7%), and Uzbekistan (7.2%).
Two years ago, Grossi, in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment, dramatically declared that the U.S. had lost its leadership in the nuclear energy sector to Russia. According to him, the Russian Federation, represented by the state corporation “Rosatom,” had become the largest participant in the global market in terms of constructing nuclear power plants, supplying reactors, equipment, and fuel for them. These conclusions of the “nuclear” official were inflated by propaganda into an “atomic victory” of Russia over the U.S. But what does this victory actually look like?
The most nuclear reactors in operation are in the U.S. — 95. The nuclear energy sector in the United States also produces the largest amount of energy, with a total capacity of about 95 GW (more than three times that of Russia — around 30 GW). France is in second place (56 reactors), and it leads all countries in the share of electricity generated by nuclear power plants in its overall energy balance (70.6%). China ranks third in the number of nuclear power plants — 49 reactors. In Russia, 37 reactors are in operation. Before the Fukushima disaster (March 2011), Japan had 54 operational nuclear reactors and was, accordingly, in third place after the U.S. and France.