Publication Laka-library:
Shunning Rosatom. Prospects of Russia’s nuclear expansion in the context of widening global sanctions
| Author | Ecodefense |
 |
2-34-6-50-05.pdf |
| Date | May 2022 |
| Classification | 2.34.6.50/05 (RUSSIA - EXPORT / ROSATOM) |
| Front |
From the publication:
Shunning Rosatom Prospects of Russia’s nuclear expansion in the context of widening global sanctions Ecodefense, May, 2022 Though a state-owned corporation, the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, unlike numerous Russian entities under state or private control, has not been directly hit with sanctions following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine. However, calls to cut ties with the Russian nuclear industry have been made in Europe and the U.S., and certain ventures pursued by Rosatom outside Russia’s borders have suffered since the start of the war. Just like the billions Russia is still receiving from selling its gas, oil, and coal abroad, the money earned by Rosatom – a conglomerate of some 350 companies both offering commercial nuclear power products and services and overseeing production of nuclear weapons in Russia – eventually helps finance Russia’s war machine. And just like the sanctions the West has imposed and plans to expand against the Russian gas, oil, and coal imports, stopping the Russian nuclear industry from continuing to earn money in Europe – even as the Kremlin continues to rain bombs and terror on a European country and threatens the world with nuclear annihilation – may help stop the brutal and unprovoked aggression Moscow has unleashed. Certain sanctions, bans, and contract dissolutions will probably hurt Rosatom more than others. Rosatom claims a robust portfolio of foreign reactor orders. In truth, however, only a handful of the 35 reactor construction projects it says it has in various stages of implementation have seen any development beyond a memorandum of understanding or an intergovernmental agreement. More to the point, most are in countries that would likely have been unable to carry them without the extremely generous financial backing from the Russian state. In an era when hydrocarbons and nuclear energy are inexorably fading into history, Rosatom’s role is not corporate survival so much as it is that of a political tool. Vendor-specific technologies create a dependency for vendor-specific fuel and maintenance, and much like it does with gas deliveries, the Kremlin may wield this dependency as a weapon of political influence.