Will the war in Ukraine provide a boost to nuclear power?

By li [dot] strandberg [at] iiiee [dot] lu [dot] se (Li Strandberg) - published 12 April 2022

Nuclear power plant with smoke and sunset behind. Photo.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine raised concerns about Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas. In a recent interview to Extrakt magazine Professor Aleh Cherp argues that this will increase the interest of European countries to construct new or prolong the operation of existing nuclear power plants.

Aleh Cherp notes that such plans exist in the UK, the Netherlands, Poland and France. He also points out that uranium necessary for nuclear power can be procured not only from Russia but also from Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Namibia, and South Africa. On the other side, Russian company Rosatom has been the dominant supplier of nuclear equipment, especially for developing countries, but also for Finland, Hungary and Turkey. These supplies are likely to stop or be disrupted by the war and sanctions, which may slow the expansion of nuclear power unless European, US, Japanese and Korean suppliers fill the gap.

Extrakt magazine (article in Swedish)