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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Likhachev, we have been marking Nuclear Industry Worker’s Day since September 28, 2005. I would like to congratulate you and everyone working in this vital, key industrial sector, which is achieving such impressive results. My congratulations to you.

Director General of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Alexei Likhachev: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Rosatom is, without a doubt, one of the world’s largest holdings, operating across the entire cycle, both in ensuring the country’s security and in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

We are currently building more nuclear power units abroad than any other country in the world, and we are doing so extremely well, using the latest technologies. And often, these are technologies that nobody else has apart from Rosatom. I know that the results are good, including the economic results; the technology is developing, and the prospects are good as well.

As for the construction of nuclear power units within the Russian Federation, we have fulfilled all the plans we set ourselves. We have already exceeded 20 percent, having set ourselves the target of increasing the share of nuclear power generation in our energy mix from 16 percent to 20 percent. This plan has been fulfilled. The target has been achieved.

I know that the company has other ambitious goals as well. Let us talk about all of this.

Alexei Likhachev: Thank you very much, Mr President.

Allow me, in my remarks, to add a little historical perspective. You chose September 28 as the date for Nuclear Industry Worker’s Day – a significant date marking the decision made on September 28, 1942, to launch work on uranium and put the nuclear issue back on the national agenda. It was only later that the Kurchatov Institute and the Ministry of Medium Machine Building were established, as part of the Soviet atomic project.

But there is another date that is very important to Russia’s nuclear industry workers: December 1, 2007, when you made the decision on the Russian nuclear project and the establishment of the Rosatom State Corporation. We will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary next year.

We can roughly divide these 20 years into two parts. The first was about bringing the industry together, creating a management system and restoring all the competencies of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. New competencies were also added to the agenda, including nuclear engineering, the full-cycle construction in Russia and abroad, and the nuclear icebreaker fleet. These were not part of the Soviet atomic project. We brought them into it.

Of course, we must also mention the role of those who created the state corporation, primarily Sergei Kiriyenko, because they laid the foundation upon which the corporation developed over the next ten years, when it has grown several times over and acquired new qualities on the basis created in 2007.

If you take a look at the figures, you will see that over the past ten years alone, our revenue in the public domain has grown fourfold, reaching more than 3 trillion rubles last year. Mr President, this figure does not include our revenue from state orders and state defence contracts. This is only our revenue in the open segment; otherwise, the figure would be higher.

Over the past ten years, our revenue from new products and new areas of technological sovereignty has increased tenfold. This is certainly a big achievement. Frankly, we did not expect this. We anticipated considerable growth, but we have also achieved this result due to sanctions, which have made us stronger.

Thank you for your assessment. We have truly achieved superiority over other global players, as demonstrated by the threefold growth of our foreign revenue in foreign currency terms.

Another feature is the foothold for new ventures and projects associated with technological sovereignty, which encourage us to continue increasing our investment programme. It is one of the largest in the country at 1.7 trillion rubles. It is not simple to implement it in the current conditions, but we are doing everything possible to carry it out.

We are also working to enhance efficiency and labour productivity. The average annual labour productivity at the corporation has grown by 11 percent, allowing us to increase wages by nearly 9 percent and social spending by 11 percent. These are the figures for the past few years.

Vladimir Putin: You also pay more taxes.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, the figure has increased severalfold.

Mr President, we will report higher figures this year. According to tentative results for the first nine months, our revenue has increased by 200 billion rubles in the public domain, by US$700 million from exports in foreign currency terms, and by 100 billion rubles from new products.

We see a very strong five-year outlook and hope to reach a more ambitious figure of 5.5 trillion rubles in total revenue by 2030. More than half of this figure will be ensured by technological sovereignty projects.

I would like to say a few words about our plans to enhance labour productivity. The national figure is 5 percent. Mr President, we have set the goal of increasing labour productivity by 12 percent a year, complemented with cost saving, as per your instructions. We plan to cut spending by 5 percent this year and by 3 percent a year in the next few years, with a cumulative increase of up to 15 percent by 2030. This will allow us to increase the profitability required to ensure the sustainable development of the industry, primarily competitiveness on the global market and our human resources capacity.

Now, Mr President, with your permission, I would like to turn to specific areas of our work.

First, the nuclear weapons complex. Twenty years ago, you set us the task of restoring its scientific and technological capabilities. We accomplished that task within the first few years and have made substantial progress since then. You are well aware of all our projects, from maintaining and developing the country’s nuclear shield and nuclear “sword” to creating nuclear weapons with new capabilities based on new physical principles. We will continue this work.

However, I would like to emphasise that the nuclear weapons complex has also become a reliable channel for transferring advanced technologies to civilian applications. We are particularly proud of our achievements in medicine. These include medical cyclotrons, the nitrogen/nitric oxide therapy system, which is already gaining worldwide recognition, artificial kidney systems, and equipment for non-invasive kidney stone fragmentation. All these products are in demand in our healthcare system, and we intend to expand this range further.

Thank you very much. Since last year, the nuclear weapons complex has also been involved in space projects, such as a powerful space tug, a megawatt-class nuclear propulsion and power system, and a lunar surface nuclear power plant.

Mr President, another key mission of the nuclear weapons sector is to advance fundamental science. At the heart of this work is the National Centre for Physics and Mathematics, its main scientific hub.

Time flies. Five years have passed, and it’s already our sixth enrolment. I would like to highlight one point straight away. So far, 189 people have graduated from the Moscow State University Branch in Sarov, which is part of the National Centre for Physics and Mathematics. Of these, 140 have stayed in Sarov, 190 are working in the industry, and six have returned to their alma mater to continue working with us. In other words, virtually all of our graduates have found jobs [in the nuclear weapons sector].

Vladimir Putin: They are all involved in this work.

Alexei Likhachev: Indeed.

There is another interesting point. Until recently, we only offered a Master’s programme, but last year we also introduced a Specialist degree programme. Mr President, this year, there were 70 applicants for every place in the Moscow State University Faculty of Physics programme specialising in areas related to the nuclear weapons complex.

Vladimir Putin: That speaks for itself.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes. It shows that people are making a conscious choice to work in the cities of the nuclear weapons complex, despite all the restrictions that come with it.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Viktor Sadovnichy and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Our cooperation is truly extensive, involving more than 70 academic institutions, and we are currently developing an entire network of laboratories. We also have three flagship megascience projects. The first is a Compton source for studying the structure of the atomic nucleus. The second is a supercomputer with a photonic accelerator. We have already developed a prototype processor capable of 10¹⁷ operations per second, and our target is 10²¹. The third is our laser complex. The entire system is now operational.

Vladimir Putin: This involves extreme light fields, correct?

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, extreme light fields. They have a wide range of applications in civilian technologies, as well as in the space sector. At its core, this work is about what we call the very structure of matter. The development of these technologies is rooted in the fundamental laws of physics.

Mr President, in your opening remarks you have already touched upon nuclear power in our country.

Thank you very much for the meeting on August 20. All decisions have been made.

We are addressing four tasks: commissioning the Kursk, Leningrad and Smolensk nuclear power plants as quickly as possible to replace the RBMK reactors being phased out. The first unit at Kursk is already in operation; the second will come online in 2028, followed by units in 2030 and 2032 at Leningrad and so on. In other words, we will not allow any decline in capacity, even though the mass decommissioning of our ageing reactors – our “pensioners” – lies ahead.

Separately, we are carrying out your instruction to eliminate the energy deficit in the Far East. As for 2032 and 2033 – that is when the twin-unit plant in the Far East will be completed, and we have already mobilised on the site.

Another very important matter is not only a quantitative change but also the transition to a new, Generation IV nuclear systems featuring closed fuel cycles using fast neutron reactors. This includes the pilot demonstration power complex in the Tomsk Region, in the city of Seversk – the BREST-300 reactor with a lead coolant, and the world’s first gigawatt-class fast neutron reactor, the BN-1200, at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station in the Sverdlovsk Region. These are all components of the new general scheme.

For current electricity generation, we are aiming for 220 billion kilowatt-hours. We are on track to match last year’s record capacity utilisation factor.

In our foreign operations, in addition to the 18 reactors under construction in Russia, we are building another 28 abroad. That gives us a total of 46. This is a record figure for construction essentially in all of Russia’s modern history; even in the Soviet Union, such a figure would have commanded immense respect. In total, our order portfolio contains 45 more power units across 13 countries. We will increase that figure.

Here, Mr President, I would like to emphasise one point: besides the numerical indicators and our international activity, there is another important factor. We provided in advance for the diversification of our international partners and have sharply increased the share of friendly countries – the countries of the Global South – in our portfolio. Not long ago, this was 60 percent; now it is already approaching 90 percent.

It is important to emphasise that revenues from Western countries remain at essentially the same parameters – US$3.5 to US$4 billion a year – but their share, naturally, is falling.

Naturally, we have not withdrawn from any international platform; we work with all international organisations.

Vladimir Putin: We are working in nine countries, are we not? 28 units in nine countries.

Alexei Likhachev: Mr President, at this precise moment, it is practically nine countries. But I keep correcting myself, because, of course, Belarus cannot be removed from that list. Of course, we never left there. Armenia cannot be removed either, because we are extending the plant's lifespan; the leadership there will decide which path to take, but we are present there. So, of course, there are more countries, and an even greater number want to launch these projects with us.

What would I like to highlight regarding technological development? Our technological sovereignty projects are integrated into almost all 20 national projects, and we are certainly addressing the objectives of all nine national technological leadership projects.

I would like to specifically emphasise the importance of our nuclear project. I am grateful to you and to Mr Kovalchuk for organising it in such a special way. We work with all the relevant ministries – our key partners: the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Transport. Of course, a special role is played by our leading scientific organisation – the Kurchatov Institute – and its scientific director, Mikhail Kovalchuk. This relationship spans decades – it is not just a partnership, but a bond akin to kinship – and it is producing these results. Without fundamental science and these developments, we would not have achieved what we have.

Mr President, I would like to add that we have created entire industries in these new areas, specifically composite materials, additive technologies, radiopharmaceuticals, and rare-earth metals. However, I would like to focus on a few of them in particular.

Vladimir Putin: New materials in general.

Alexei Likhachev: New materials in general.

Vladimir Putin: That is excellent and timely.

Alexei Likhachev: This work is just getting underway.

Vladimir Putin: You are addressing certain tasks in a timely manner.

Alexei Likhachev: Let’s begin with digital materials science and the creation of entire platforms to develop new materials. This reduces costs and saves time, while simultaneously enabling large-scale industrial production that serves the needs of Rostec, as well as the aviation and shipbuilding industries. Yet, among these, shall we say non-nuclear areas, the Northern Sea Route is our greatest passion, if I may put it that way. I am confident that we are heading for another record this year: we will transport more than 40 million tonnes, an increase of about 20 percent compared to last year.

However, it is not just about the numbers. First, I would like to emphasise that all the forecasts – especially those made by Western experts – regarding global warming and melting ice are themselves fading away, unlike the ice itself. In terms of ice conditions, the situation this year is far more challenging than last year. Despite the vast expanses of open water in September, three icebreakers are currently on duty and five are undergoing maintenance. We are not expecting any “ice pause” for the time being. Meanwhile, construction of icebreakers continues steadily.

We plan to launch the icebreaker Leningrad this November. It would, of course, be a great honour for both the shipbuilders and the sailors if you could take part in the ceremony.

We are already actively working to implement the objective you set at the last Eastern Economic Forum: connecting the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor with Southeast Asian markets. The number of voyages by our Chinese partners has doubled this year. Last year, they tested the transit route to Europe and are now expanding regular services from Chinese ports to ports in the European Union. South Korea has also completed a pilot voyage. Overall, we are confident that Vietnam, India and Indonesia will also become actively involved.

Moreover, thanks to the decisions taken by you and the Government, Rosatom itself has become Russia’s largest container logistics operator. We rank first in Russia and fourth among BRICS companies.

Vladimir Putin: There is room for improvement.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, and we will work to improve these figures, including through cooperation with our shipbuilders.

Mr President, I would also like to touch on several specific engineering areas.

Our extensive construction programme requires us to become a leader in power engineering. Today, we have a complete reactor construction cycle, from design to manufacturing, including our own metallurgical facilities. We are currently building 46 nuclear islands.

We also have a major dedicated programme for RITM-200 small modular reactors. No one else has experience on this scale: of the 28 reactors covered by the programme, 15 have already been manufactured and another 13 are currently in production. That is, we have established serial production of small reactors, including for the nuclear power fleet. Work on this fleet is proceeding in accordance with your instructions, including projects for the Kaliningrad Region.

Mr President, another area that can certainly be described as an industry we are building from the ground up is energy storage. We are increasing localisation from the current 22 percent to 95 percent. We are launching two gigafactories, in Moscow and the Kaliningrad Region, both of which will enter commercial operation this year. We will be able to fully meet demand both for electric mobility and for industrial energy storage systems. We have already built the first such system in the Krasnodar Territory, and the results are impressive: it helps smooth peak loads and store electricity.

Mr President, we have been overseeing efforts to carry out your instructions regarding the handling of Class 1 and Class 2 industrial waste. You have tasked us with recycling and neutralising this hazardous waste by 2035. We are ahead of schedule. There are projects you know well, including Usolye, the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill, and the Krasny Bor landfill. There is also the Yaroslavl Region and all four new regions.

Another trend over the past year or year and a half consisted of working abroad in Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and with our Armenian partners as part of the Nairit project. I hope that we can be helpful in this sector too. This work effectively involves rebuilding and regulating industrial waste management by offering a digital platform that can be used by the market and the regulators alike. Importantly, it is based on our domestic technology.

I would like to conclude the technology part by mentioning the Data Economy. Mr President, you will remember that we started out as leaders in mathematical modelling and supercomputer technology and were the first major corporation to develop a digital strategy. You have tasked us with contributing to building critical IT infrastructure in a way that ensures its independence. Today, we produce over a million items for the critical information infrastructure every year. We have also created a series of industrial digital platforms for almost all key sectors of Russian industry.

Our goal is to transition to platform-based solutions. Apart from industrial platforms, we have five solutions in development: Heath and Medicine, Ecological Well-being, Mega Science, New Energy Platform and Autonomy, and Logistics and Navigation. I truly hope that we will have an opportunity to show you all of this at the beginning of next year at the Future Technologies Forum.

Mr President, there is what I believe to be a topic that dwarfs all the others in terms of its importance. I would like to inform you about our work at the Zaporozhye NPP, in Energodar, and to tell you what we have been doing to support the special military operation participants in general. The city and the station have found themselves in a very challenging situation, and it has been especially tense since May 2026. There were over 8,000 drone strikes and about 1,100 artillery strikes, about 30 missile attacks targeting the city’s infrastructure, leaving 21 people dead, including six NPP staff members, three members of the operating personnel, and transport workers. The Chief Engineer was killed too. You have posthumously awarded him the Order of Courage.

We have met with the team. They came to Moscow, and our colleagues visited them. The city asked me to convey the following message: “We are standing firm, everything will be done to ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in the future.” However, what the nuclear sector employees in Zaporozhye really want and dream about is to put the station back into operation. We will do everything to make sure that the plant becomes operational.

Vladimir Putin: Everyone wants to work.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, and the results of the State Duma election in Energodar included an 84 percent voter turnout and United Russia winning 80 percent of the vote. This was the best way for people to demonstrate their resilience.

To conclude, I would like to say that extensive work has been initiated with the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation and with the graduates of your Time of Heroes project. We have created a movement of special military operation participants, now numbering more than 800 people. They are focused on work, an active life, health, and spiritual rehabilitation in Sarov. These men are true fighters; all of them have returned to the ranks, even those with severe wounds. It is striking to see young men arrive with both legs amputated, yet their only request is to return to the workshop.

Vladimir Putin: We must do everything to ensure that they are in demand and feel like full-fledged members of society, that they engage in sports and have decent work.

Alexei Likhachev: Another young man with an amputated leg runs a boxing club at a local school.

Vladimir Putin: It is very good that in Sarov, which you just mentioned, the new educational institution we established is taking an increasingly worthy place in the system of specialised education, and that you have managed to attract highly qualified faculty and teaching staff there. I believe that 18 academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences teach there. Naturally, such an educational platform cannot help but attract the attention of young, talented people.

Alexei Likhachev: Thank you very much.

We will prepare to set new record performance metrics in the economy and in production projects by the end of the year. But the most important thing is that the team is, of course, fully committed to further development. We are looking towards the 2030–2045 horizon. Importantly, we are constantly raising the bar for our goals. Indeed. What seemed to us only yesterday to be difficult to attain now seems not ambitious enough, so we are raising the bar for ourselves. I would also like to thank the Supervisory Board, which includes representatives of the Government and the Presidential Executive Office, and is headed by Mr Kiriyenko. We are now entering a period where we will move forward, and the harder we are pushed, the better our results will be. I am absolutely certain of this.

Vladimir Putin: We will push everyone ourselves.

Mr Likhachev, I congratulate you and your entire large team on your professional holiday and wish you every success. Thank you.

Alexei Likhachev: Thank you very much.

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