The US and European allies are importing massive amounts of fuel and nuclear material from the Russian Federation, providing the Kremlin with hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed revenue to finance the invasion of Ukraine.
The sales, which are legal and not subject to sanctions, have raised the alarm among nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports help fund the development of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and Moscow’s efforts to war capacity undermines.
Dependence on Russian nuclear products, mostly used in civilian nuclear reactors, puts the US and its allies at risk of energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts off those supplies.
The challenge could grow as these states look to scale greenhouse gas-free electricity production to combat climate change.
“Should we give money to people who make guns? It’s absurd”said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.
According to available information and analysts, the Russian Federation has sold approximately $1.7 billion worth of nuclear products to companies in the US and Europe.
The purchases were made despite the West’s increasing sanctions against Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, blocking imports of Russian products such as oil, gas, vodka and caviar.
But Russian exports of nuclear material play a key role in keeping nuclear reactors running. The Russian Federation supplied about 12% of its uranium to the US last year, according to the US Energy Information Agency, and Europe got 17%.
Reliance on nuclear power is expected to increase as states adopt alternatives to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants produce no emissions, but experts warn that nuclear power carries the risk of reactor meltdowns and the challenge of safely storing radioactive waste.
There are about 60 reactors under construction worldwide and 300 in the planning stage.
Many of the 30 states that generate energy from 440 plants import radioactive material from the Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
This company, which claims to build 33 power plants in 10 states, together with its subsidiaries exported about $2.2 billion worth of goods and materials related to nuclear energy by 2022, according to information analyzed by the British think tank Royal United Service Institute. who also admits that the values are higher, given the difficulty of identifying these exports.
Source: DN
