Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting on nuclear energy that Russia will expand the geography of nuclear power plant unit deployment. Modern stations are expected to appear in the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East.
According to the president, this will strengthen the infrastructure base for the long-term development of territories and the emergence of new energy-intensive industries, including deep processing of natural resources in the Arctic, Siberia, and the Far East. The growth in electricity demand will be ensured by the development of artificial intelligence, the construction of data processing centers, electric transport, industrial robots, and automation in the service sector. To meet these needs, it is necessary to introduce generating capacities in advance.
Putin also called for ensuring technological readiness for the design of large and small nuclear power plants, having a line of standard power units for serial assembly, increasing the production of power engineering equipment, and strengthening the industry's human resources.
What we have already written about the expansion of nuclear generation in Russia
In November 2025, Putin announced plans to build 38 new nuclear facilities over the next 20 years and transition to serial production of small nuclear power plants — primarily in the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East. Even earlier, in 2024, the draft general scheme for the placement of electric power facilities provided for the construction of 11 new nuclear power plants by 2042 in nine regions of the country, including Chukotka, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk Krais, Yakutia, and Sverdlovsk Oblast. At the same time, the president instructed Rosatom to work out the launch of the Primorskaya and Khabarovsk NPP units by 2032. The connection between the increase in nuclear generation and the construction of data centers is clearly traceable: the editorial board wrote about how commercial data centers are moving from Moscow to the Urals in search of affordable energy, and the regions of Siberia and the Far East are becoming attractive points for new computing capacities due to the climate and low energy tariffs.
Read more on the topic:
- Russia finds new direction for small-scale nuclear energy
- Russia to start building NPP in Kazakhstan as early as 2027: a major "Balkhash" project is coming
- Rosatom to Build 18 More Power Units in Russia