Putin announces closed fuel-cycle nuclear system by 2030

President of Russia Vladimir Putin addressed the Global Atomic Forum and announced that Russia plans to launch the world’s first nuclear power system with a closed fuel cycle in the Tomsk Region by 2030, and that an International Research Centre in the Ulyanovsk Region will test advanced materials for the closed cycle.

• Main announcement: Russia will launch the world’s first closed fuel-cycle nuclear power system in the Tomsk Region by 2030, aiming to reuse ~95% of spent nuclear fuel; an International Research Centre in Ulyanovsk Region will test the full range of advanced materials for the closed fuel cycle and Russia invited international scientists to cooperate.

  • Event details: Global Atomic Forum, part of World Atomic Week; Date: 25 September 2025; Time: 18:50; Location: ATOM Museum at VDNKh, Moscow; Agenda/subject: discussions on present and future of nuclear industry, new technological paradigm, nuclear safety, financing and closed fuel-cycle technologies.

• Background and other details: Putin said Russia possesses expertise across the entire nuclear power technology chain and is developing small-scale land-based and floating nuclear power plant projects which will enter serial production soon; he noted the New Development Bank has confirmed readiness to finance nuclear projects and that a BRICS Nuclear Energy Platform was established; he cited IAEA forecasts (global nuclear capacity may reach nearly 1,000 GW mid-21st century) and OECD estimates that uranium resources could be depleted by 2090 (or possibly as early as the 2060s); he also highlighted that electricity consumption by data centres is set to more than triple in the current decade and that Russia is deploying modular data processing systems at nuclear power plants.