Part Three of Three Parts (Please read Part One and Two first)
At the end of last year, Rosatom claimed that it had over one hundred billion dollars in contracts for the construction of twenty seven nuclear reactors. However, these are not really signed contracts for construction. They are general agreements to proceed with planning and the drafting of actual contracts. They are often referred to as "strategic partnerships for the development of nuclear power."
At the end of 2014, Rosatom publicized a deal with South Africa in the Russian media. The claim was that this was an order for eight new power reactors and related nuclear infrastructure worth about forty billion dollars. However there was wide-spread criticism after details of the deal leaked out. The agreement does not call for any Russian liability in case of a nuclear accident, it provides for tax exemptions and includes the requirement that South Africa must get permission from Russia before dealing with any other nuclear technology supplier. The South African government which had tried to keep the details secret claimed that it had not selected a nuclear contractor yet and that it had signed agreements with several other countries for possible nuclear technology imports.
Rosatom is only currently constructing two new reactors inside Russia and a few outside Russia even though it had promised more. Any new construction Rosatom is engaged in is suffering cost overruns and is behind schedule. It is unlikely that Rosatom has the resources to construct twenty or more new reactors in the next decade despite questionable claims of many orders.
In the next decade, Rosatom will be called on to decommission old reactors that have reached the end of their lifespan. This work will be extremely costly and Rosatom will expect the government to provide funds. It is unknown whether the Russian economy will have recovered from soft fossil fuel prices and Western sanctions by the time these reactors need to be decommissioned. Even though money for loans extended to counties purchasing Russian nuclear technology will make their way back to Russia, it may take decades under the generous terms of the loans being discussed. There may be calls for issuing renewals of licenses for the old reactors but they are breaking down and this would most likely lead to serious accidents.
In 2014, Rosatom promised to build dozens of new reactors for many other countries including India, China, Iran, Algeria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Rosatom hoped to sign deals with South Africa, Egypt and Kazakhstan. If new reactors are ordered, Rosatom may be forced to stall for time by "slow-walking" the order process in order to give fossil fuel prices and the Russian economy a chance to recover.
Arguments for government assistance for Rosatom include a concern that Rosatom will lose market share if they are unable to compete in the international nuclear export market. considering problems facing other nuclear contractors such as France's Areva and companies in Japan, South Korea and China, there may not be much competition for a shrinking global nuclear market.
Soviet Designed Nuclear Reactors:
