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Russia Sells Nuclear Reactors Decades After Chernobyl Accident
2010-09-30 04:01:47.0 GMT
By Carol Matlack and Yuriy Humber
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Russia, one of the world's biggest
oil and gas exporters, aims to become a global leader in nuclear
power, too. State-owned nuclear group Rosatom now has 15
reactors under construction worldwide, more than any other
international supplier. Five of the 15 are outside Russia, and
more are coming soon, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Oct.
4 issue.
On Sept. 26, Rosatom announced a deal to supply two
reactors to China, in addition to two it has already built.
"China's not even the No. 1 priority now, as we have larger-
scale partnerships in India, Turkey, and in the future,
Vietnam," Rosatom Chief Executive Officer Sergei Kiriyenko
said.
Emerging-market countries are ordering most of the new
reactors nowadays, as projects in developed countries are slowed
by political opposition. Rosatom is ready to compete on price:
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, construction of a 1,000 megawatt plant in Russia
costs an average $2.9 billion, exclusive of financing. That's 20
percent to 50 percent less than plants built by western rivals.
The Russians have overhauled their nuclear technology since
the Chernobyl fiasco. "The power reactors they are offering the
world are the same basic design everyone else is offering,"
says Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate in the nuclear
policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. "Outside experts judge it to be safe." Nonetheless, he
adds, "In some nuclear markets, decision makers both
commercially and politically still are a little nervous about
this."
Expanding Global Sales
Kiriyenko has been pushing to expand global sales since
2005 when he took the helm of Russia's atomic-energy ministry,
which became a state-owned company in 2008. The 48-year-old CEO,
who served briefly as Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin, says
he wants to boost Rosatom's annual sales from $17 billion now to
more than $50 billion over the next 20 years.
As a state-owned company, Rosatom benefits from the
Kremlin's help in clinching deals at high levels. Its sale of
two reactors to India last March was sealed during a trip to
New Delhi by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who also agreed to
sell the Indians 29 MiG fighters and other arms. The September
sale to the Chinese was signed in Beijing the same day as a
Russian agreement to supply natural gas to China. Rosatom is
also the only nuclear vendor willing to take back spent fuel
from its customers, according to the World Nuclear Assn. Most
countries, including the U.S. and France, prohibit the long-term
storage and disposal of wastes from commercial reactors outside
their borders.
Korea Electric Competition
Rosatom's toughest rival may prove to be Korea Electric
Power. The reactors KEPCO builds in Korea cost about one-third
less than Rosatom's, according to the OECD. And this year KEPCO
inked its first export deal, to supply four reactors to Abu
Dhabi for $20 billion. "The benchmark to beat now is the Korean
price," says Chris Gadomski, a nuclear specialist at analysis
group Bloomberg New Energy Research.
Kiriyenko is still preparing for a boom in sales. To ensure
steady fuel supplies to customers, Rosatom spent $610 million in
June for a controlling stake in Canada's Uranium One. In an
upcoming joint venture with Siemens, the German company will
provide turbines for Rosatom plants. New products are coming,
too, including next-generation fast reactors and floating
reactors that can be hauled by ship to remote locations.
For Related News and Information:
Stories about Nuclear Energy in Russia: TNI NUK RUSSIA <GO>
Top Russia Stories: TOP RUS <GO>
Rosatom News: 2731593Z RU <Equity> CN <GO>
--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina in Moscow. Editor:
Christopher Power
To contact the reporters on this story:
Carol Matlack in Paris at +33-1-5365-5013 or
cmatlack@bloomberg.net
Yuriy Humber in Moscow at +7-495-771-7743 or
yhumber@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Power in New York at 212-617-2929
or cpower3@bloomberg.net.
