Rosatom is currently the only Russian company that has not been sanctioned Part 3
The only Russian company that is not sanctioned yet (is Rosatom).
Needs to buy Uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia
while continuing to buy uranium and
nuclear fuel from Russia until those supplies can be fully replaced? Well, yes,
it could, and that would probably hurt them the most. But there are two
drawbacks.
On the one hand, taking this step in
a market as restricted and with few suppliers like this one might make Russia
itself willing to sacrifice those revenues in order to leave the West without
its nuclear fuel. And this, in the United States and Europe, could cause real
supply problems for power plants at a time of high hydrocarbon prices. And then
there is another problem, and that is that there are not so many suppliers of
nuclear technology for modern power plants.
In other words, banning imports of these
technologies would probably generate a bottleneck of orders to the civil
nuclear industry in countries such as the United States, France, and South Korea
that would threaten the world's energy supply. And it would do so precisely in
what is expected to be the greatest period of electrification in the history of
mankind due to the fulfillment of climate objectives, something that, by the
way, we have already talked about here on VisualPolitik. So the reality is
that, like it or not, the United States and the European Union will have to be
very cautious about imposing sanctions against Rosatom, and that is precisely
why Rosatom has so far escaped unscathed.
Now, is this irreversible?
Well, no, of course not. In fact,
both the United States and the European Union already have plans to boost their
production of enriched uranium and fuel for power plants. “US Redoubles Efforts
to End Dependence on Russian Nuclear Fuel The White House is prioritizing the development of domestic uranium-enrichment capacity and predicted key lawmakers
will fall in line so that a fuel-manufacturing plan can be in train by 2025”.
“Nuclear included in EU's repowering
plan The European Commission has formally adopted the REPowerEU plan which aims
to rapidly reduce EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels. The plan highlights
the importance of coordinated action to reduce dependence on Russian nuclear
materials and fuel cycle services. – World Nuclear News”
But of course, until all that materializes,
Rosatom will remain of crucial importance for its supply. The risk now is that
dependence on the West will allow this company to become a sort of by-pass for
sanctions and divert technologies, supply purchases, and profits to finance the
military campaign.
For the time being, Rosatom has
already actively participated in the invasion of Ukraine, as it is the current
operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and also its de facto owner as
long as it remains occupied. In addition, the company is acting on the orders of
the Russian government in operating this Ukrainian power plant, which is the
largest in Europe with a total of six reactors. Since the beginning of the
occupation of the power plant, units have been being switched on and off at the
whim of the Kremlin to undermine the morale of the Ukrainians and prevent them
from earning money through the export of electricity to their European
neighbors.
In fact, this is one of the main
arguments used by the Ukrainian government to demand that this company be
sanctioned as soon as possible, but, as you have seen, even in spite of its
collaboration in the war, things are not so straightforward.
In short, Rosatom, rather than being
a huge financial lifeline for the Kremlin – which it also is – functions as a
strategic political pressure trump card. It is a red line where, unfortunately,
in this case, Russia does have the upper hand.
But now, at this point, it's your
turn. Do you think the United States and Europe would do well to put their
nuclear energy production
at risk in order to sanction
Rosatom? Could this company be Putin's last great strategic asset outside the
battlefield? Well, leave us your opinions here below, in the comments. And
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