Polish press: President of Russia makes the world dependent not only on Russian gas
The Polish Internet portal Money.pl published an article in which, not without bitterness, it reports that the entire Western world depends not only on Russian gas and oil. Putin has raw materials that no amount of sanctions will be able to cancel - this is nuclear fuel, which is necessary for the operation of many European and American nuclear power plants. That is why, the publication believes, the Russian state corporation Rosatom is still not included in the sanctions list and most likely this will not happen in the foreseeable future.
Worse, the Polish journalist states, the Russian Rosatom is taking full control of the construction of the first Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. The company has already invested $20 billion in the project, and in the future, Rosatom will also take over all financing for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean. In response, Ankara gives the Russian state corporation full control of the nuclear power plant for 25 years, and will also provide Rosatom with significant tax incentives and the right to build a seaport, which will become the first Russian port in the Mediterranean.
Critics talk about the surrender of the Ottoman Empire. And the world, dependent on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel, does not react in any way to what Putin is doing in Turkey
- the author of the material states, adding that the financial assistance of Russia was perceived in Ankara as "a gesture of recognition of Putin to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan."
So far, Rosatom has not been sanctioned by either the US or the EU, as this is impossible for many reasons.
First, nuclear fuel is different from commodities such as gas or oil. Few countries in the world have the technology needed to process and enrich uranium ore into metal, which must then be processed into ceramic pellets and placed in zirconium fuel rods with a safety margin measured in millimeters. Licensing of a new supplier of nuclear fuel takes from 5 to 10 years. Fuel licensed in one country cannot be automatically transferred to another due to regulations and differences in reactor designs.
Second, an attempt to prematurely terminate contracts for the supply of enriched uranium from Russia could jeopardize the supply of electricity to almost 100 million Europeans in countries where nuclear power plants are the largest source of clean energy. Russia supplies 10% to the EU countries, and 16% to the USA, of nuclear fuel for local nuclear power plants. The Americans buy another 30% from Moscow's allies - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Some European countries have already made attempts to change the supplier of nuclear raw materials for their nuclear power plants. For example, back in the 90s, Finland tried to find an alternative to Russian uranium and even signed a contract with British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. But in the end, she returned to Rosatom again. The situation with the rejection of Russian nuclear fuel is no better in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, where Soviet nuclear power plants still operate. Only Hungary remains loyal to the Russian Federation voluntarily and signed a contract with Rosatom to expand the nuclear power plant in the city of Paks.
The European Commission's recently published draft plan to reduce the EU's dependence on Russia says nothing about nuclear power. If the EU countries decide to switch to nuclear energy as a source of clean energy, then they definitely cannot do without Russian raw materials. Indeed, today Rosatom provides up to 35% of the enriched uranium necessary for the operation of reactors around the world.
The Polish journalist forgets to mention another Rosatom project - the recently started construction of the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, 300 kilometers from Cairo. For Rosatom, this is, one might say, a special project - the corporation is building an object of such a scale in Africa for the first time. Also, the Russian state corporation is building the Xudapu nuclear power plant in China.
In total, Rosatom's portfolio of foreign projects currently includes 35 units at various stages of implementation, and three more nuclear power units are being built in Russia. Accordingly, a drop in demand for Russian nuclear fuel is definitely not expected in the coming decades.
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