Sanctions on Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom are “a nonstarter” because the company is a key player in the nuclear fuel business and sells both goods and services to Europe and the US, James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.

Acton said in an article on the US-based think tank’s website that ironically, one year after the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the process of weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels has left Europe particularly reliant on Russian nuclear exports.

He said there are 14 Russian-supplied VVER-440 reactors in the European Union that are entirely dependent on Russia for their fuel, since no non-Russian company can fabricate it.