Can Ukraine replace Rosatom in the global energy market

In the US, they found another way to hurt the Russian the economy. A group of US senators came up with a proposal to impose sanctions against uranium fuel purchased in our country. How real is the refusal of Western energy from Russian nuclear fuel, and how can this threaten us all?

nuclear colossus

Russophobe Senator John Barrasso proposed to completely remove "all Russian energy, including uranium" from the US market. Possible uranium sanctions by Washington can either be limited to the United States itself or be extended to all of its other vassals. This initiative lies entirely in the logic of the economic strangulation of Russia in the “Anaconda loops” and does not bode well for our country in the medium term.



On the one hand, Rosatom is one of the leading players in the global nuclear energy market, providing comprehensive services for the construction and subsequent maintenance of nuclear power plants, the supply of fuel assemblies for their operation and spent fuel disposal. About 40% of the state corporation's proceeds from the export of nuclear fuel came from the EU countries. The share of the Russian peaceful atom in the internal consumption of the EU reached 25-28%. Nuclear power plants with Soviet-type VVER-1000 reactors are currently operating in Ukraine, and in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and Bulgaria, nuclear power plants with Soviet-type VVER-440 reactors are operating.

It is impossible to just take and refuse to use Russian fuel, sharpened for reactors of the corresponding type. It takes time and desire. True, the American company Westinghouse has been consistently working in this direction for many years, which we will discuss in more detail below.

On the other hand, a significant share of Rosatom in the global nuclear pie is not some kind of constant. In terms of uranium fuel supplies, our country occupies about 14-15% on the international market, in uranium conversion services, namely the conversion of uranium into UF6 - 27%, and in uranium enrichment - 39%. This is a lot, but it should be borne in mind that this share is provided primarily due to the presence of technologies full cycle production - from mining to disposal.

Until recently, it was simply convenient for everyone that Rosatom provided comprehensive services. However, the problem for the state corporation is that our country is far from the first place in real uranium production. The first place in this indicator belongs to Kazakhstan, the second - to Australia, the third - to Namibia, followed by Canada, Uzbekistan, Niger, and Russia itself is only in seventh place, behind China. And this is really a problem.

Canada and Australia are, to put it mildly, not the most friendly countries to Moscow. Namibia and Niger are the sphere of influence of France, which itself is a direct competitor to Rosatom. Kazatomprom has the industry's largest uranium reserve base of 295 tons. 85,08% of the total number of placed shares of the company belong to NWF Samruk-Kazyna JSC, and 14,92% are in free float on the Astana International Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan began to noticeably cool after President Putin first brought in troops at the request of local authorities to help stabilize the situation in early 2022, and then quickly withdrew.

After the start of the NWO in Ukraine, official Astana took a position that could well be characterized as unfriendly neutrality. Given the efforts of American, British and Turkish diplomats, the discord between the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan will only intensify, which, most likely, will affect cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. In the same vein, "Western partners" are acting in Uzbekistan. The prospects of the Uranium One group of companies, which are part of the structure of Rosatom, in the event of the introduction of US sanctions on the market of Canada, the United States, Namibia, Kazakhstan and Tanzania, also do not look very inspiring.

Ukrainian atom

In other words, Rosatom may lose access to the raw material base in the main uranium-producing countries, and then it will have to start mining in our country, which will deprive it of an important competitive advantage, while simultaneously creating environmental problems. In this regard, it is interesting that the United States is preparing Ukraine to replace it.

At firstFor many years, Nezalezhnaya has been a test site for Westinghouse to test "counterfeit" American nuclear fuel to replace Russian fuel at Soviet/Russian design reactors. First, they worked out fuel assemblies for VVER-1000 type reactors at Ukrainian NPPs, and now they are planning to master VVER-440 type reactors. This means that Westinghouse has targeted the markets of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and Bulgaria. At the same time, part of the elements of the new fuel assembly will be produced in Ukraine - gratings, shanks and heads.

Secondly, under the Zelensky regime, Ukraine is destined to turn into a “European Namibia”, since the Americans intend to intensify the extraction of uranium ore in the Kirovograd and Dnipropetrovsk regions. It seems that environmental and safety standards will be at the African level.

Thirdly, Ukraine, under the rule of Western puppets, will be able to replace Rosatom in the world market for the service of disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Instead of processing and disposing of it, the Americans and Europeans will simply take it to be buried in nuclear repositories in the Chernobyl exclusion zone near Kyiv.

These are approximately such gloomy prospects for Russia and Ukraine in the medium term, if everything continues in the same vein as now.