Nuclear power and Russia’s strategy in the the East
|Published
Hügo Krüger
While the ongoing war in Ukraine understandably dominates media attention, it is equally crucial to recognise the significant developments unfolding in Russia’s far eastern Chukotka Region. The Kremlin has big plans to sail around the Arctic, and it is using floating nuclear power as a strategic investment.
Pevek is Russia’s northernmost town, established in the 1940s as the location of one of Stalin’s Gulags. The rectangular architecture typical of the USSR, which housed the workers of the far eastern uranium mines, is still visible. Although the exiled oligarch Roman Abramovich was compelled to brighten the buildings up with vibrant colours, Pevek’s town planners have not managed to escape the uncreative legacy of Soviet central planning.
In the centre is a coal power station that has been in operation for nearly 80 years. The plant served the uranium mines that were established as a hub to collect the radioactive material in the aftermath of WWII, in the USSR’s equivalent of the Manhattan Project. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disastrous structural reforms of the 1990s, Pevek’s population dwindled to just more than 5 000. This decline led to a mass migration to larger cities such as Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Recently, the trends have been reversing, due to a decision by Russia to prioritise development in Chukotka. The Chukchi—the closest relatives to the American Indians, whose numbers make up a disproportionate amount of the soldiers in the Russian-Ukrainian War — are the native inhabitants of the region. Like aboriginal communities elsewhere, the development has been neglected for years, with unemployment being rife.
During the summer months, the ice around the Arctic Ocean opens up, allowing ships to be escorted by nuclear-powered icebreakers travelling from the port city of Murmansk to the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. Pevek is the last frozen location before the ships sail towards Vladivostok. From there, cargo is taken to China, India, and beyond.
In Pevek, Russia has stationed its first floating nuclear power plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, named after the 18th-century Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov who made significant contributions to our understanding of the law of conservation of matter.
Although nuclear power is not new to Chukotka, with the 36 MW Bilibino plant having operated since 1970, what makes the Akademik Lomonosov different is that it is a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) - a technology that can theoretically be exported to the coastal regions of several countries around the world.
The FNPP measures 144 metres in length, 30 meters in width, and it displaces 21000 tonnes in the water. Its steel structure, unlike traditional concrete designs, houses modern amenities, including basketball courts, swimming pools and gyms.
Post-Fukushima safety protocols have been a significant focus in the plant’s design. It boasts an independent safeguard system and steel containment structure. Hydrogen buildup is deemed controllable through passive safety systems, and because the plant is floating on water, it does not require complex anti-earthquake systems. The reactor that is not available to visitors are reported to be the size of tin cans.
The Akademik Lomonosov is a 300 MWth (70 MWe) reactor, designed as an icebreaker spinoff. The plant currently operates at 25 MWe due to low local demand, although its historical peak output reached 60 MWe. The low usage factor indicates that Russia is planning to expand Pevek’s industries around this development. Pevek already benefits from the FNPP through improved district heating and a hot water supply. Nuclear power is set to replace the coal plant, marking a transition to cleaner energy, and when this occurs, Pevek will be one of the world’s first 100% nuclear-powered and greenest town in terms of energy and electricity .
With this design, Russia is obviously serious about establishing itself as the key nuclear rival to traditional nuclear-exporting nations such as South Korea, the US and France. The Russians are well aware of the significant cost overruns and poor construction management at both the Vogtle and Hinkley Point C Power Stations. They note the struggles of the NuScale SMR to attract customers and the French Nuward program’s recent failure to present a viable business case. They are equally so concerned that South Korea has recently entered the European market and might effectively replace the existing Russian reactors at the Dukovany site with Korean ones when they are retired.
The Arctic - the new great game
Despite this, the Russians are aware that they are competitive in the export market, with Rosatom having the largest number of new builds outside of China under construction. With nuclear power being a key component in asserting geopolitical influence and the Far East serving as the site for its first prototype, they are now leading the SMR race.
Much like the Great Game that took place in the 19th century between Great Britain and Tsarist Russia, there is a new geopolitics that pivots around commodities and trade routes.
Pevek’s location is strategic, because since the days of the First Crimean War, Russia has consistently sought a warm-water port. Western Strategists such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and Lord Palmerston have argued that Western grand strategy should exploit this weakness to contain Russia as a de facto landlocked country. It is a weakness that Russian leaders themselves have openly acknowledged.
With China and India being on the Arctic Council as observer states and with the onset of US sanctions, it would seem as if the larger Eurasian giants, including democratic India, are joining Russia in opposing Pax Americana. As India’s external affairs minister said in 2022 when caught buying Russian oil, they “will not be lectured” by the Western world.
Furthermore, the Arctic Ocean is the location of 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas reserves, as well as deposits of rare earth elements, gold, and other important minerals necessary for the energy transition. Russia is already aware of this, as evidenced by Novatek’s LNG investments in the Gydan Peninsula. Russia’s primary goal is not just resource extraction but also developing a means to export these resources — not to Europe, but to the growing populations in Asia and, soon, Africa, which is expected to comprise eight out of 10 people by the end of this century.
Offshore nuclear power stations are a technological key for geopolitical leverage, with the Russian flagship company Rosatom playing a crucial role in executing the Kremlin’s strategy to bypass US sanctions and challenge America’s supremacy over the sea routes. Clearly aware that the US Navy enforces these sanctions by strategically positioning its fleet in the Red Sea, South China Sea, and Indian Ocean — what the US strategic Alfred Thayer Mahan termed “maritime chokepoints”. Russia seeks to counterbalance this influence using floating nuclear power as a key instrument.
Yet with a new ocean route opening up on the edge of the world, due to rising global temperatures, it remains questionable if the US will have leverage over the sea routes. It also remains to be seen whether temperatures will continue to rise as they have steadily been doing since the end of the Little Ice Age. However, in the eyes of its leadership, global warming is expected to offer Russia certain advantages, which might explain why Russian President Vladimir Putin was reluctant to commit to divesting from Gazprom at the Paris Agreement.
Russia, with its icebreaker fleet, could achieve what the Soviet Union and Tsarist Russia could not — a navigable trade route from Saint Petersburg and Murmansk to its warm-water port in Vladivostok.
The geopolitical events will be driven by two crucial factors, the impact of rising sea temperatures on the Arctic Ocean, as well as the willingness of the Western world to revive its nuclear industry with the aim to compete with the Russian-Chinese duopoly.
Hügo Krüger is a YouTube podcaster, writer and civil nuclear engineer who has worked on a variety of energy-related infrastructure projects ranging from Nuclear Power, LNG, and Renewable Technologies.
BUSINESS REPORT