Russia and China dominate global nuclear power construction

Russia and China have emerged as the dominant forces in the global nuclear energy market, with state-backed companies accounting for over 90% of global nuclear power plants under construction since 2016, as both countries deepen their geopolitical influence through long-term energy infrastructure projects.

According to industry data, construction has begun on 63 nuclear power reactors worldwide in the past decade, with more than 57 of these projects led or financed by Moscow or Beijing. Analysts say the trend underscores a strategic pivot by both governments to use civil nuclear exports as instruments of foreign policy.

“Through the energy sector, the Kremlin and Beijing are expanding their political and economic influence,” researchers at independent monitoring groups told Financial Times. “This is not just about electricity—it’s about embedding long-term dependency.”

China has become the global green energy champion and while the main thrust of its efforts to greenify its economy have focused on renewables, in parallel it has an ambitious and outsized nuclear power development programme.

Russia’s nuclear exports are booming as it leads the world in providing nuclear technology to its partners in the Global South. Uranium has become the new gas for the Kremlin as developing markets looks for quick fixes to their energy supply problems. And Russia’s new VVER reactors are state-of-the-art, replacing the old RMBK reactors used at Chernobyl and elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Russia has announced an ambitious programme to double its nuclear power plant fleet with 38 new reactors last September, according to the state-owned nuclear power agency Rosatom.

Rosatom has focused on building reactors in developing countries where Western companies have retreated due to regulatory constraints and financing challenges. In the past ten years, Rosatom has launched construction of 19 reactors abroad, including in Turkey, Egypt, India, and Bangladesh. The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in southern Turkey, a $20bn project fully financed and constructed by Russia, is expected to begin operations later this year.

“Russia is betting on exporting nuclear technologies to developing countries,” the company said in a statement issued on January 17. These projects often come with decades-long fuel supply agreements – the gas-equivalent element of the new deals - training programmes, and maintenance contracts, that bind host nations to Russian technical expertise and political goodwill through a new energy dependency.

China, meanwhile, is pursuing a parallel strategy. Its leading nuclear firms, including China National Nuclear Corporation and State Power Investment Corporation, are expanding internationally, particularly in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, offering low-cost financing and domestically developed reactor designs. Beijing’s nuclear diplomacy is also backed by its Belt and Road Initiative, which positions energy infrastructure as a tool for strengthening bilateral ties.

While Western companies such as France’s EDF, South Korea’s KHNP and US-based Westinghouse remain active in select markets, they are increasingly outpaced by the scale and state financing available to their Russian and Chinese counterparts.