Nuclear monster of the Russian Federation: Why were no sanctions imposed on Rosatom during the war years?

IAEA President Rafael Grossi claims that the organization has no authority to impose sanctions on Rosatom. He said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“It is possible that even the imposition of appropriate sanctions against Rosatom could have negative consequences for nuclear security, as Rosatom supplies fuel and provides services to many countries,” Mr. Grossi said.

Emphasizing that Rosatom is one of the largest suppliers of nuclear reactors in the world, he also stated the following: “Therefore, it is not easy for all these countries to give up, but the Nuclear industry does not want sanctions because they need reactors for their own economies.”

Experts I spoke to Focus, We believe that if today, relatively speaking, individual states do not get rid of their nuclear dependence on Rosatom, then tomorrow they will certainly become victims of the Kremlin’s audacious blackmail.

Russia successfully combines nuclear energy with politics

“It must be understood that it is not only Europe that was once stuck on the needle of Russia’s energy resources, the developed countries of the world, including the United States, are also making mistakes in this sector, they missed it pretty quickly. and, more importantly, “Rosatom”, which is a highly professional development, and unlike Gazprom, Rosneft, etc., “Rosatom” is a highly professional, successful structure that currently holds almost 30% of the market of new reactors created in the world. ” he states in his speech. Focus political scientist Alexander Kochetkov.

Emphasizing that this company produces up to 40 percent of nuclear fuel, the expert noted: “Many countries are covered by the “tentacles” of the Russian nuclear monster; For example, France and the USA receive a significant share of nuclear fuel. So this is a very serious problem, by the way, last year a conference was held with the participation of five countries: France, the United States, Canada, England and Japan, they gradually made decisions based on the results of this event. Get rid of dependency on Rosatom. “They have actually started to take some steps in this direction, but there is no talk of reducing dependency yet on the essentials.”

At the same time, according to Alexander Kochetkov, if we talk about African countries and the Global South, they will never abandon Rosatom, which constantly puts forward “some interesting proposals.”

“The problem is that these most interesting business proposals from Rosatom are very skillfully and professionally combined with political issues of a global nature and this problem has not been overcome, although the world, including our allies, has finally begun to see this problem. However, I can easily say that the solution is still far, far away; “It will take at least ten years,” emphasizes the expert.

In fact, in order to solve this problem, according to Alexander Kochetkov, countries with close relations with Rosatom should develop their own nuclear industries as much as possible, extract/process raw materials, etc. They need to focus on the issues.

Alexander Kochetkov states that developed countries have all the opportunities for this and adds: “The most important feature is that Rosatom offers everything much cheaper.”

“Even so, nuclear countries that rejected Russian gas, such as Europe at the time, will have to increase the production of everything necessary for the operation of nuclear power plants and make certain expenses. Part of the “Westinghouse” plant in Sweden (by the way, it belongs to the Japanese company Toshiba). Therefore, only this single structure can produce fuel for the former Soviet reactors that are abundant in the region. This type of production needs to be increased in the world and, by the way, in Ukraine, because one plant cannot meet all needs. “By the way, thank God, Ukraine is his priority, others are next,” he notes.

He also believes that the civilized world should invest as much as possible in its own production and then offer developing countries conditions that can compete with Rosatom.

“It will be really quite difficult to compete with the Russians here, but it is quite realistic. In this regard, we must “hit” the security component, because Rosatom in a way still lacks the most modern technologies. ” concludes Alexander Kochetkov.

How to remove the nuclear hook from the Russians?

In contrast, Alexander Leonov, director general of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research, said: Focus He emphasizes: “Unfortunately, it should be noted that the world is really on Russia’s nuclear hook. Because it is the Russian Federation that provides approximately 53% of enriched uranium to the world market. Even if it’s not a monopoly. , then somewhere very close to that. But it is very important that the Russian Federation gets most of this uranium from Kazakhstan, because the Russian Federation does not have a lot of its own uranium. By working with Kazakhstan, you can get this nuclear hook out of Russia’s hands. However, on the other hand, it is necessary to be aware that this is objectively a very long process.

Touching on how long this process could take and whether it has actually been started, Alexander Leonov said: “To some extent, yes, the process has started. For example, the loss of uranium mines in Niger. France is not talking – it is shouting that uranium must be sought, and I think it was not in vain that Mr. Macron flew to Kazakhstan recently. And the fact that the American Congress decided to limit Russian uranium is the “first sign” of this. The West is looking for options. Meanwhile, many European countries (except Hungary) “They are also looking for opportunities that will allow them to abandon Russian fuel bars. So the process continues, but it is clear that the West will do this. In this case, do not be too harsh.”

Emphasizing that the world has been talking about sanctions against Rosatom since 2022, the expert added: “This is really important, because Rosatom is actually the only Russian high-tech company that is not sanctioned. So how does this happen? For example, in the same IAEA, previously on Rosatom There are a lot of Russians in different positions, from the first deputy who holds a high position (Mikhail Chudakov – ed.) to the middle ranks, to put it mildly, the IAEA, for example, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), where the Russian Federation violated all possible and impossible norms. “It reacts very slowly to many serious events such as ).”

According to Alexander Leonov, years of “intensive and systematic work” will be needed, in particular, to change the situation and minimize the world’s dependence on Rosatom.

At the same time, as the expert notes, there is another side to this problem: “The fact is that when Russian fuel rods are processed, they are sent to the warehouses of the Russian Federation for storage. But when the contract expires, Russia has it. the right to return nuclear waste to the sending country “This is also a big problem for which everyone must prepare, because the Russian Federation will be blackmailed by this.”

In fact, for this reason, Alexander Leonov notes that the world must have the entire technological chain from uranium processing to enrichment and waste disposal “in order to take away Russia’s ability to blackmail any country.”