“The real action, though, was at a multilevel booth for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear company, which exuded a Steve Jobs vibe of pure whiteness and know-how. That was where “newcomers,” as the Russians fondly call them, from nations that do not have nuclear power plants heard about options and signed cooperation agreements for Rosatom to build or even operate reactors for them. At one point, photographers snapped shots of Nigerian nuclear officials as they clinked champagne flutes with Rosatom chief Sergey Kirienko, celebrating their baby steps toward joining Russia’s growing roster of clients, including Turkey and Vietnam. Rosatom has already finished reactors in China and India. In July, Finland chose the company over French and Japanese competitors for its next reactor.
The big show was all part of a Kremlin-backed $55-billion plan to make Russia a leading global supplier of nuclear power. Already the country intends to build roughly 40 new reactors at home, and it expects as many as 80 orders from other countries by 2030. Included are facilities that would generate power and desalinate water, of particular interest in the Middle East. The expansion comes as Germany is abandoning nuclear power, the U.S. industry is struggling and Japan is in the midst of soul-searching about its post-Fukushima intentions. President Vladimir Putin has called the build-out “a rebirth, a renaissance” of Russia’s nuclear technology.”
– Excerpt from Pulitzer Center grantee Eve Conant’s piece on Russia’s growing nuclear export industry in Scientific American. Keep reading here. Image by James Hill. Russia, 2013.
