00:04Rising global demand exacerbated by AI and data centers
00:09has brought nuclear power back into the spotlight.
00:12But AI is not the only reason.
00:15Our challenge is to deliver on climate change and reduce our CO2 emissions,
00:20is to improve our sovereignty by securing our energy.
00:25The promise of next-gen reactors is also fueling a potential nuclear comeback.
00:30It's a hot industry. It's a brilliant industry. You have to do it right.
00:35Energy-wise, security-wise, nuclear has a very, very important contribution to make.
00:41But there's a catch.
00:43After the global energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion in Ukraine,
00:47many countries are giving a fresh look to the potential role that nuclear might play.
00:53The Russian nuclear program, in a sense, is at the top of its game right now.
00:58In the short term, I see a huge difficulty to compete with Russia.
01:04In what ways is Russia leading the nuclear energy game?
01:08Why does it matter?
01:10And what are the major players doing to challenge Russia's position?
01:14Most countries that generate nuclear power have fewer than 10 operational plans.
01:20But the top five nuclear-producing nations have far more.
01:25The U.S. leads the pack with 94 operational plants, followed by China, France, Russia and South Korea.
01:33But these positions are about to change once all planned and unfinished plants become operational.
01:39According to current data, China is expected to overtake the U.S., Russia will catch up with France, and India will enter the top five.
01:52But power doesn't lie only in the number of plants a country operates, but also in how many it has built abroad.
01:59And one country is pursuing nuclear projects everywhere in Europe, Asia and Africa.
02:06The Russians enter this picture ready to do business with these countries on terms which the Russians present as being neutral politically,
02:18not interfering with the internal affairs of these countries.
02:23Mark Hibbs is a non-resident senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
02:31That will provide Russia with diplomatic influence and access to information of a strategic nature that these countries have in their decision-making on technology development and energy.
02:48From Eldaba in Egypt to Rupur in Bangladesh and Astrovets in Belarus, Russia has been introducing a range of newcomers to nuclear energy, building, financing or supplying fuel for their first ever power plants.
03:03That's the result of a long-term strategy to get a foothold into this market.
03:10Sebastian Stier is the author of the chapter on Russian nuclear interdependencies from the 2025 edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.
03:20There was a reluctance in the West to build new reactors and certainly Rosatom in a way stepped in there.
03:29Rosatom is Russia's state-owned nuclear giant, an important tool in Moscow's nuclear energy outreach.
03:36Mostly through Rosatom and its subsidiaries, Moscow exports complete nuclear power plant solutions.
03:43From building infrastructure to supplying the core component, the nuclear steam supply system, which drives power generation.
03:51Russia and the U.S. are involved in the nuclear sectors of a similar number of countries around the world.
03:57Russia in 11 and the U.S. in 10.
04:00But Russia is involved in over 50 nuclear power plants worldwide.
04:05Nearly double the number of U.S. projects.
04:08A situation that Washington is aware of.
04:11The Trump administration plans to boost U.S. nuclear energy exports.
04:16One of Trump's goals is to seal at least 20 new pacts for peaceful nuclear cooperation, which are known as 1-2-3 agreements.
04:24It's not very clear in details on how these endeavors are going to unfold.
04:31However, President Trump has the similar promises in his last term, also about a nuclear energy revival.
04:42Researcher Qian Yun Po specializes in arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, and international law, with a regional focus on the post-Soviet space and the Indo-Pacific.
04:54I believe he will engage extensively with foreign governments.
05:01Can Washington catch up quickly enough?
05:03Since the 1940s, the U.S. has signed the most number of memorandums of understanding and other cooperation agreements on nuclear power.
05:13Any partner of the United States acting in the same good faith will find the United States a not unreasonable or ungenerous associate.
05:24But lately, it's Russia that's really been making moves.
05:28Since 2014, when it seized Crimea from Ukraine, Moscow has signed nearly 50 cooperation agreements, giving it the largest number of unique partners, as well as the largest overall number of signed agreements.
05:42The way the Russians do this, they begin a discussion with potential partners that leads to the formation of a so-called framework agreement for nuclear cooperation.
05:57Among Rosatom-led projects, one stands out, the Akuyu nuclear plant in Merzim, Turkey.
06:04Not only is Russia building a nuclear plant in a NATO country, but Akuyu is also the first to be constructed under a build-own-operate, or BOO model.
06:16This means the Russian side is responsible for financing, constructing, owning, operating, and eventually decommissioning the plant, while Turkey agrees to buy a share of the electricity.
06:28This dependency will last for many decades because we are talking now about lifetimes of nuclear reactors in the range of 50, 60 years, maybe even more.
06:41Ankara seems to be seeking to diversify its energy relations.
06:46In September 2025, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Trump in Washington.
06:52It was the Turkish leader's first White House visit in six years.
06:56The country signed an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation.
07:00But what can the West offer that Russia can't?
07:03The West needs to compete with Russia on the financial front.
07:09However, the West has also other edges that Russia cannot offer.
07:14For example, being very transparent in their data access to engage with local communities and have a democratic participation with the local government.
07:30At stake is not just who builds nuclear power plants, but also who holds the key to uranium supplies, the lifeblood of nuclear energy.
07:40Nuclear power plants make electricity by using heat to create steam that spins turbines.
07:47That heat comes from splitting enriched uranium atoms.
07:51Enriched uranium is another area where Russia is in a very strong position.
07:56Between 2013 and 2023, Russia exported $20.5 billion worth of the resource, sitting unchallenged at the top.
08:05During this period, the US steadily imported more than half a billion dollars worth of uranium every year from Russia.
08:13Even after Russia invaded Ukraine, the figure went up to $1.2 billion the following year.
08:20And in 2024, it was still over 600 million.
08:24This can't be changed very quickly, but steps are being taken to reduce this dependency on Russia.
08:34In September 2024, the US announced plans for a new uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge in Tennessee.
08:43The site was formally used for the so-called Manhattan Project, which developed the world's first atomic bomb.
08:50Enrichment matters, but so too does control over uranium supply.
08:55Raw uranium isn't particularly rare.
08:58When it comes to uranium production, Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia have long been the world's top suppliers.
09:06But where does all that uranium actually go?
09:10Niger, for example, exported almost all of its uranium to France in 2022 and 2023.
09:18Now Russia wants to enter the picture.
09:20During an official visit to Niger in July 2025, Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilyov said that Moscow wants to mine uranium in the former French colony.
09:31I think France is a bit worried about the situation, especially that they seem to have lost their hold in Niger.
09:38Hartmut Winkler is a nuclear technology expert at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
09:44I don't think France is in any sort of desperate situation yet.
09:48I think they're still able to get the things, but certainly it's something which is a factor, this whole question of controlling the supply of uranium in Africa.
10:01But it's not just Niger that Moscow has its eyes on. It's the whole of Africa.
10:07Of the agreements Russia has signed since 2014, almost 30 percent are with African nations.
10:13It's interesting the U.S. would go for countries that tend to be slightly more Western aligned and probably economically stronger than many of the other countries in Africa.
10:23China also coming out and saying, well, we can help you solve your electricity problems.
10:27With China, I think it's more also building economic partnerships.
10:31I see the approach being slightly different.
10:33I think with Russia, I think it's fairly clear that everything seems to be driven by this geopolitics, by this need to get as many countries in your camp as you possibly can.
10:43Researcher Chia Yunpo told DW if China were building these plants rather than Russia, geopolitical risks would shoot up, especially in Asia.
10:52I think in the short term Russia won't go down that road to tarnish its own image in these areas that, especially after the war, most doors have been shut.
11:04If it's China, I think it's very likely that China, Beijing would have a stranglehold over this nuclear power plant, maybe in the worst case to jeopardize the cooperation and communication between Asian countries.
11:20So I think that's the reason why people have preemptively avoid China's facilities.
11:29As it has in Africa, Moscow has also been forging ties in Asia.
11:34Since 2014, 47% of partnerships signed by Russia are with countries in this part of the world.
11:41After talks with Vladimir Putin in New Delhi in 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that Russia would be building at least 10 more nuclear reactors in his country.
11:53Chia Yunpo says that Asia remains a hugely profitable market for Moscow.
11:58It only has one pole circuit in Asia, that is Kudakulam nuclear power plant in India.
12:06It wants to establish itself as a very credible partner, especially in at least in nuclear energy construction.
12:14Russia reaps big revenues from nuclear energy.
12:17At the end of 2023, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likachev said the company had around $200 billion in planned orders over the next 10 years.
12:29But it's unclear how Russia's war in Ukraine will affect the situation and how the international community chooses to engage with Russia whenever the war eventually ends.
12:41It's an outstanding question whether or not in the future, if an agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia to terminate hostilities in the country,
12:55whether or not the world's nuclear industry would in fact welcome continued efforts to sanction Rosatom,
13:03or instead the nuclear industry would favor some kind of accommodation which would permit them to go back to doing business as usual.
13:13Much will depend on the nature and the terms of a peace deal.
13:17There is strong pressure in the West to reduce dependence on Russia over energy and geopolitical risks.
13:23But shifting away from Rosatom is tough.
13:26The technical and supply chain ties run deep.
13:29Still, some countries are trying.
13:32Even some allies of Moscow are looking to diversify.
13:35Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, is building...
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