Russian president Vladimir Putin did some lobbying for state owned Rosatom in Sochi on Friday, telling southeast Asian countries there that it was time to go nuclear.
"The level of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in the fuel and energy sphere needs to be taken to a new level," Putin was quoted as saying in the local press today. ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. "Moscow is ready to cover the market and is ready to offer member countries projects on the construction of next generation nuclear electrical power stations,” he said during the Russia-ASEAN Summit in Sochi.
None of the 10 ASEAN nations are currently hooked up to nuclear power. Nor are any of the 63 ongoing nuclear reactor sites being built worldwide going up in ASEAN states.
Rosatom is the world's third largest developer of nuclear reactors. Its subsidiary TVEL producers fuel assembly rods, the technology that holds the uranium used to power the reactor and generate electricity. It competes with Westinghouse Electric Company, AREVA Inc. and now Chinese companies are starting to get in on the action, primarily in China but also in Eastern Europe, an historic strong hold for Russian utilities.
See: How Washington Fends Off The Russians In East Europe's Energy Market
At least some of the small southeast Asian nations said recently that its not ready for nukes. Malaysia's government said it needs to increase public awareness of the risks and benefits of nuclear reactors. That could be a hard sell in the region considering the fact that only three years ago Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster made the world wary of building new reactors. In December, for instance, Vietnam delayed its plans to build a roughly $10 billion Rosatom nuclear power plant called the Ninh Thuan 1 until 2020. Russia signed an agreement to conduct feasibility and other studies to build a nuclear power plant in Cambodia.
Indonesia is the most advanced in the decision making process to build nuclear power facilities in the country.
The government said last year that it had $8 billion earmarked for four nuclear power plants of six gigawatts total to be in operation by 2025. In mid-2010 three sites were being considered for those power plants: Muria (central Java), Banten (west Java) and Bangka Island (southern Sumatra). All projects were to be built away from the tectonic subduction zone where earthquakes can cause damage to infrastructure. Rosatom also has a foothold in the country.
No reactor deals between Rosatom and ASEAN nations have been signed at this time.
