Russian power crisis deepens despite pledge to boost nuclear

Russia’s government under the new president, Vladimir Putin, was grappling with an energy sector close to collapse after news of falling oil prices and the worsening open conflict between Gazprom and UES. No-one was convinced when the government gave the preliminary approval for an ambitious building programme of up to 38 new nuclear reactors over the next 20 years. The Russian Federation’s powerful Atomic Energy Ministry raised the prospect of boosting the country’s nuclear power capacity from its present 14 per cent to 33 per cent by 2030, in a move that would considerably reduce the nation’s dependence on gas. But the plan was immediately labelled a “nuclear fantasy”. Russians have seen it all before.