Bloomberg: Russia in 2022 increased the export of nuclear fuel and technology by 20%

The volume of exports of products and technologies of the Russian nuclear industry increased by 20% in 2022. Deliveries of nuclear fuel from Russia to the EU reached the highest level in three years last year, reported Bloomberg with reference to a study by the Royal United Defense Research Institute (RUSI).

RUSI calculates that Russia’s total nuclear exports in December totaled $201.5 million, while the highest monthly export in the previous three years did not exceed $160 million. However, the figures provided by RUSI do not take into account the supply of nuclear fuel to Iran .

The agency recalls that the EU and the US have not yet imposed sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry. This is largely due to the fact that Russia, unlike many other countries, continued to develop nuclear power and remained one of the few suppliers of nuclear fuel. In particular, Rosatom supplies a fifth of the enriched uranium needed to operate 92 US nuclear reactors.

On February 2, MEPs called for Rosatom to be expelled from the EU and to stop importing uranium from Russia. Reuters sources reportedthat, at the proposal of Poland and Lithuania, the tenth package of EU sanctions may include restrictions on the Russian nuclear industry, in particular Rosatom and its leadership.

February 5 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced sanctions against 200 legal entities from the Russian Federation, including the state corporation Rosatom, its subsidiaries and other companies in the nuclear industry of the Russian Federation. The list, in particular, includes FSUE Zaporozhye NPP, which has been in charge of ZNPP since October 2022. On February 12, Mr. Zelensky imposed sanctions against Yury Ushakov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Policy and member of the Supervisory Board of Rosatom, and more than a hundred employees of Rosatom and its subsidiaries.

Erdni Kagaltynov