Russia's Rosatom Remains World Leader in Nuclear Reactor Design

Russia's Rosatom state nuclear corporation is the world leader in nuclear power plant reactor projects with 30 being designed in 2014, according to a report from the company's reactor design subsidiary Atomproekt.

The total number of projects Rosatom worked on in 2014 amounts to 41 percent of the world's planned reactors. US energy company Westinghouse was the second-biggest with 17 reactors being designed and South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power was third with 12 reactors.

"This is a distinction of the nuclear sector, nuclear energy. The length of the technological cycle in the nuclear sector is such that it is much longer than incomparable to short-term cycles of the political situation," Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said at Atomexpo-2015 in June.

Rosatom's successes continued in 2015, with new memorandums for nuclear power plant construction signed with Argentina, China, Indonesia and other countries on reactor construction and nuclear power cooperation. Rosatom also signed a contract to build a new plant in Bangladesh and expects to sign a contract with Egypt for its new power plant.

Rosatom also began the construction of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant after a breakthrough in Iranian nuclear talks. During the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum, Iran's rival Saudi Arabia also approached Russia for the construction of 16 reactors, which Kiriyenko valued at $100 billion.