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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Our today’s meeting will be dedicated to reviewing the company’s performance.

Director General of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev: I would like to begin by stating that, despite the external challenges, the state corporation has successfully maintained robust development parameters. Not only have we secured our existing projects, but we have also provided valuable framework for the future, particularly in terms of scientific and technological advancement.

Mr President, if I may begin with the economic indicators. We are witnessing an average annual revenue growth of 24 percent. We aspire to, and indeed expect to, surpass three trillion rubles this year. Of this amount, approximately 1.2 trillion will be derived from new products.

The average annual growth of foreign revenue stands at 23 percent. Another noteworthy fact is that this year, our workforce will exceed 400,000 people; Rosatom is expanding in terms of staff number. We are targeting a 12 percent average annual growth in labour productivity. Over the past five years, average salary growth has been 11 percent.

Mr President, we are enhancing our contribution to the nation's economy. Our nuclear order, which is largely secured and contracted for the next decade, amounts to 52 trillion roubles, most of which lies outside the state corporation's perimeter. I am convinced that through implementation, this figure will increase, potentially reaching up to 100 trillion rubles, representing a conditional investment of the nuclear industry in our nation’s economy.

Investment growth shows an average annual increase of 31 percent. We have achieved an annual investment of approximately 1.5 trillion rubles, primarily benefiting projects within the Russian Federation, although we also invest in foreign ventures.

Our contributions to taxes, social insurance, and the social sphere are also on the rise, now exceeding half a trillion.

Mr President, on behalf of the entire industry, we wish to express our gratitude. In 2020, you supported our project on the Development of Equipment, Technologies and Scientific Research in the area of Nuclear Energy, and in 2022, you decided to extend it.

During a Government’s strategy session, Mr Mishustin endorsed the integration of all five federal projects into the new national project, New Nuclear and Energy Technologies. The entire content of our national programme for the Development of Equipment, Technologies and Scientific Research in Nuclear Energy, along with all five federal projects, is now incorporated into this national project.

Additionally, we are involved in about ten national projects, covering such areas as data economy, chemistry, new materials, mechanical engineering, healthcare, and logistics network. On the whole, we are working actively under the Government’s guidance.

Mr President, our primary responsibility is fulfilling state defence order.

Vladimir Putin: The average annual growth in taxes and social contributions was 15.5 percent, correct?

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, about 15.5 percent. Understandably, our costs are also increasing, so our growth is slightly disproportionate to our revenue, but we remain one of the major taxpayers in the country. In terms of total contributions to social insurance and taxes, we rank third among Russia’s industrial companies.

Speaking of state defence order, the nuclear weapons complex addresses three key objectives: ensuring nuclear parity, developing new weapons based on new physical principles, and advancing non-nuclear arms, including those for the needs of the special military operation.

Moreover, the nuclear weapons complex serves as a supplier of sovereign technologies across our advanced industries, including mechanical engineering, the digital economy, medicine, additive technologies, and materials science. This allows us to increase civilian goods output faster than planned. Last year, we exceeded the 50-percent target. Civilian goods accounted for 52 percent of Rosatom defence companies’ gross output, and we will expand this share even more by 2030. This is despite the fact that the state defence order itself is growing too – growing dozen times over, in some cases.

Mr President, your instruction to generate 25 percent of all electricity nationwide from nuclear power is being fulfilled. I would like to highlight the significant work underway by the Ministry of Energy, which has already developed a new general plan. It is important to note that Rosatom has not only provided a strong technological solution but has also led the way in terms of cost-efficiency. This is primarily due to the long lifecycle of nuclear power plants. In fact, we are being conservative when we state that it is 60 years, as these plants are expected to operate much longer. However, for legal reasons, we currently cannot state more than 60 years.

We enjoy a very high installed capacity utilisation factor – over 80 percent and, of course, we are independent from imports, so all the challenges caused by import substitution have not inflicted economic damage on our projects.

In pursuance of the decision regarding the attractiveness of our tariffs, the Ministry of Energy supported our proposal for 37 units by 2042; this will allow us to achieve 25 percent by mid-2040s.

Vladimir Putin: What is the exact share in the overall system as of today?

Alexei Likhachev: Currently, our nuclear electricity makes up over 19 percent. We add a few billion kilowatt hours of wind power to this, so we are confident that we are keeping a steady target of 20 percent of nuclear electricity. Globally, we are ranked in the second dozen in terms of the nuclear power share.

Vladimir Putin: Up three percent over that time.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, we have grown by approximately three percent over recent years.

Over the last year, everything proceeded as planned at the projects abroad; you know them well and are aware of the news: in Uzbekistan, we signed the first contract for a small nuclear power plant, and we have a very attractive, large fuel contract with India. Everything is going according to plan in Bangladesh, we have delivered fuel there, as well as to Turkiye.

Of course, the most significant event last year was the commissioning of the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets for our Belarusian customer. You know firsthand how strictly the customer treated us and how closely Mr Lukashenko was monitoring everything. However, when the plant was completed in November, he said: I do not want to let you go. And we have also prepared around ten technological sovereignty projects with a total starting amount of 50 billion rubles for implementation in Belarus.

I simply want to thank you for the decision you made many years ago on the instruments of support for nuclear exports. Lending to a customer country is a highly effective tool. First, the funds are returned to us with interest, and secondly, they are actually utilised in the Russian Federation. Moreover, we develop projects for these countries for hundreds of years. This instrument of export support works very well.

So, by consolidating our experience in Belarus, we have achieved a completely new quality of work in terms of exports. I would like to draw your attention to the figures in the analysis of foreign revenue in recent years. Volumes are increasing, as I mentioned, but the share of friendly countries in our revenue is also growing very noticeably: it will approach 80 percent this year. How is this achieved?

Using our work in Belarus as an example, we have begun exporting technological sovereignty. Our friendly countries are responding well to these proposals, forming partnerships in environmental projects, digital technology, engineering, and energy storage. Consequently, it is possible to attach a large volume of technological sovereignty projects, in addition to nuclear exports.

I would also like to note that we offer our fuel supply to countries where foreign-designed reactors are located, such as the United Arab Emirates, where the Koreans built a plant, they buy our enriched uranium product, or in Brazil and Mexico, where we are the sole suppliers of EUP, despite the fact that the plants are of American design.

Global trends originate from these technological sovereignty projects. I would like to report that we have formed the Great Northern Sea Route federal project under Vitaly Savelyev’s guidance, considering the entire transport support infrastructure in the north of the country. This addresses the problem of exporting our goods, and focuses on the connectivity of territories, including northern delivery, as well as the issue of international transit.

This supportive framework and the northern transport infrastructure can help us implement the idea of ​​lessening the load on the Eastern Operating Domain and transport a comparable volume of cargo via the Northern Route in the 2030s, but there is still a lot of work to do.

The construction of nuclear icebreakers is proceeding as scheduled. A major challenge is the construction of an Arctic cargo fleet. We have reported to the Government separately on this matter, and it will also be included in the federal project.

Mr President, as for the transportation along the Northern Sea Route, we are slightly ahead of last year’s records. Despite all the pressure, we are experiencing very high demand for the Northern Sea Route, particularly in terms of cargo transportation.

I would also like to thank you for your support of our logistics work. FESCO, the Far Eastern Shipping Company, was transferred to us along with other areas, and we are now progressing towards ensuring transport sovereignty not just in the north, but also in other regions.

Certainly, we are working collaboratively, including with our carriers and railway operators, aiming to achieve logistical sovereignty while fostering container transportation in a unique manner with our international partners. The People's Republic of China and India have shown interest, and a joint venture has been established with the United Arab Emirates.

I am hopeful that we will significantly expedite and develop the Northern Sea Route across its entire perimeter and geographical expanse of transport routes.

Vladimir Putin: Your presentation lacks the Northern Latitudinal Railway project, which should be included.

Alexei Likhachev: The Northern Latitudinal Railway-1 extends from Nadym to Obskaya, and the Northern Latitudinal Railway-2 continues from Obskaya to Sabetta. At the moment, these two sections are shown here by a short-dashed line.

However, considering budget constraints, we must contemplate the implementation strategies for these projects. These are substantial investment projects, and naturally, we can only implement them in collaboration with Russian Railways.

Vladimir Putin: Indeed, they are involved.

Alexei Likhachev: Yes, we are working in conjunction with them.

Vladimir Putin: It needs to be highlighted here.

Alexei Likhachev: Certainly, we shall do that.

This is the slide that pertains to logistics.

Mr President, we regularly provide updates within the framework of the Future Technologies Forum about our extensive initiatives to lay the foundation for tomorrow's technologies.

As you may recall, a year ago, we discussed quanta and presented a 16-qubit quantum processor. Now, it has advanced to a 50-qubit quantum processor. We have undoubtedly progressed from lagging behind to being among the top five countries. In fact, only two countries are developing all four platforms: us and the United States of America.

Significant efforts are made to create ultra-fast computing platforms, both in terms of today’s supercomputers and advancements in photonics. In general, not only through the enhancement of computing capacities but also through novel physical principles, we will, of course, achieve the goal of creating supercomputing power.

This year, you attended a healthcare and medicine forum where we demonstrated bioprinting and nuclear medicine research. I can add that following the resolutions adopted at the forum, we are now pioneering a new area in oncology. At the gene and cellular level, we are working on the activation of human immune cells in bioreactors, their reintegration into the body, and addressing the most challenging end stages to assist cancer patients at an entirely new quality level.

As you have told us, materials science is the forum’s next objective. To put it simply, our objective is as follows: Today, we can manually create new tailor-made materials. Our next objective is to make tremendous amounts of such materials on a commercial scale using AI technology. We will try to make this leap in 12 months and provide specific installations with AI systems.

Of course, it is impossible to have leadership in space exploration without nuclear technologies. We are working with Roscosmos in this field. Plasma rocket engines are part of our national project. Unlike gas-dynamic engines, they boast an entirely different efficiency, completely different fuel consumption volumes, and it is virtually impossible to explore space without them.

Vladimir Putin: Manoeuvring, orbit-changing.

Alexei Likhachev: Orbit-changing, manoeuvring and, of course, deep-space missions. This groundwork is unparalleled and very few countries can compete with us here.

Mr President, in conclusion, I would like to discuss the main issue. People are, of course, our main asset. Our nuclear cities represent the entire potential of our state corporation and are our main value, 31 cities with a population of 2.5 million. As usual, we tell you how we improve the quality of medical services together with the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, how we work with the urban environment, how we distribute our Smart Cities project, and how we influence social life.

In your 2024 Address to the Federal Assembly, you instructed us to draft master plans for backbone cities, primarily technological development cities. We have already compiled four master plans for our cities, and the 31 cities will be listed as eligible for master plans, in the next two years.

This amounts to impressive support because, of course, our cities have a rundown and dilapidated infrastructure. We are unable to cope on our own, together with municipal and regional authorities. Our efforts to draft master plans for cities are supplemented by current efforts by Marat Khusnullin and represent a major breakthrough in organising work in cities. Thank you very much for this.

I would also like to thank you for the fact that, since early 2024, three employees of our nuclear industry have received National Awards. Today, 12 Heroes of Russia and Labour, as well as three new National Award recipients, work in our sector.

Of course, we are a high-tech sector and we stipulate special requirements for our staff, including their professional training standards and their readiness to serve. Consequently, we can see three major aspects: It is necessary to provide the sector with ready-made specialists, specifically, 300,000 people by late 2020s, as well as with people sharing our culture and values. Rosatom schools, Mendeleyev Classes, engineering classes and nuclear classes all serve this goal. We work with over 100 flagship universities, training such substantial reserve of young specialists. Young people account for about 33 percent of the industry’s specialists.

The second objective is to open up the inner person, at work, to show that they are the centre of our work and the entire nuclear world revolves around them. We have two academies: corporate and technical. We have the largest professional skills competition on the planet, with over 1,500 participants, and the Man of the Year recognition programme, which is held as a huge labour festival. All this makes it possible for us to keep employee retention in the industry at 82 percent.

And, of course, we need to make people feel that they are not only nuclear professionals, but also members of our society. We are active in all programmes and projects of the Russia – Land of Opportunities platform. You have accorded us such an honour: the first days, the first weeks of the Time of Heroes project were spent on a nuclear-powered icebreaker. In general, we are absolutely involved in all national projects and work with people. And, of course, we also unite young nuclear specialists from other countries around us.

Mr President, next year we are celebrating 80 years of the nuclear industry. First, we certainly invite you, and we want very much to make it a holiday not only for nuclear industry employees but also for the entire country and for all our partners abroad.

With your permission we will prepare such a programme and launch it this year. And the nuclear industry happens to emerge in the same year as the great Victory, a bit after it, and we would have planned the main events for August-September next year, including those with your participation.

Vladimir Putin: Very well, of course.

Alexei Likhachev: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: 80 years, but the future is good, and this is also confirmed by the fact that, as far as I know, about 30 percent of the nuclear industry personnel are fairly young people.

Alexei Likhachev: Mr President, we have a very harmonious workforce: a bit more than 30 percent of young people, 30 percent is the “golden group” aged 40 to 55, and up to 30 percent are older people – we do employ people in their 80s and 90s, you know them personally, they are our pride and our asset. And in this sense, such harmony and generational bridge enable us to not only work and be successful today, but also, most importantly, make plans for dozens of years to come.

We have agreed that next year, the year of the 80^th anniversary of the nuclear industry, we will approve a strategic programme for another 20 years, a programme of our strategic development until 2045 – up to our 100^th anniversary.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

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