A new report and research from a British defense research group has found that many Western nations are still reliant on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

一个英国国防研究组织的新报告和研究发现，尽管许多西方国家在克里姆林宫2022年2月全面入侵乌克兰后努力切断与俄罗斯的经济联系，但它们仍然依赖俄罗斯核燃料为其反应堆提供动力。

“Russia may be able to take advantage of incongruencies in sanctions or other restrictions, as well as persistent contractual dependencies and supply challenges, to maintain access to Western nuclear fuel supply chains and continue generating revenue through its enriched uranium exports,” the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, says in its report.

皇家联合军种研究所（RUSI）在其报告中表示：“俄罗斯或许能够利用制裁或其他限制的不一致，以及持续存在的合同依赖和供应挑战，保持进入西方核燃料供应链的机会，并继续通过其浓缩铀出口创收。”

Rosatom

俄罗斯国家原子能公司

Of those supplying nuclear fuel, Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, “is the biggest supplier of uranium enrichment to the global market” and has continued to export significant volumes of enriched uranium product since February 2022. The report estimates that Russia sold enriched uranium worth $2.7 billion in 2023.

在核燃料供应商中，俄罗斯国家原子能公司（Rosatom）“是全球市场上最大的浓缩铀供应商”，自2022年2月以来持续出口大量浓缩铀产品。报告估计，俄罗斯2023年出售了价值27亿美元的浓缩铀。

Rosatom supplied some 30 percent of the enriched uranium purchased by European Union states in 2022, and 23 percent of that purchased by U.S. utility companies, according to the RUSI analysis of publicly available statistics. Not all countries publish their import or export figures for nuclear materials.

根据皇家联合军种研究所对公开的统计数据的分析，2022年，俄罗斯国家原子能公司供应了欧盟国家购买的浓缩铀的约30%，以及美国公用事业公司购买的浓缩铀的23%。并非所有国家都会公布其核材料的进出口数据。

Western companies may be finding it difficult to change long-term contracts with Rosatom, said Darya Dolzikova, author of the RUSI report. “In the enriched uranium space in particular, there are historical dependencies, so there are contractual obligations that might be difficult for certain utilities to get out of,” she told VOA.

这份报告的作者达雅·多尔兹科娃（Darya Dolzikova）表示，西方公司可能会发现很难改变与俄罗斯国家原子能公司的长期合同。她对美国之音（VOA）表示：“特别是在浓缩铀领域，存在历史依赖性，因此某些公用事业公司可能难以摆脱合同义务。”

French dependency

法国的依赖

France, which has 56 nuclear reactors generating around two-thirds of the country’s electricity, is one of Russia’s biggest customers for enriched uranium, despite growing political tensions between Paris and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.

法国拥有56座核反应堆，发电量约占全国三分之二，尽管巴黎和莫斯科之间因入侵乌克兰而导致的政治紧张关系日益加剧，但法国仍是俄罗斯最大的浓缩铀客户之一。

“Imports into France of Russian enriched uranium have increased significantly since the start of 2022. So there was an increase of about 184 percent in volume,” Dolzikova said.

“自2022年初以来，法国进口的俄罗斯浓缩铀大幅增加。进口量增加了约184%，”多尔兹科娃说。

French utility EDF is even planning a joint venture with Russia’s state-run Rosatom to process uranium at a site in Lingen, Germany.

法国电力公司（EDF）甚至计划与俄罗斯国家原子能公司成立合资企业，在德国林根的一个地点加工铀。

The RUSI report also details Russian uranium exports to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. “Russia is still the biggest exporter of enriched uranium and enrichment services globally. They account for about 44% total capacity of enrichment services,” Dolzikova added.

皇家联合军种研究所的报告还详细介绍了俄罗斯向美国、德国和荷兰的铀出口情况。“俄罗斯仍然是全球最大的浓缩铀和浓缩服务出口国。他们约占浓缩服务总量的44%，” 多尔兹科娃补充道。

Decarbonization

脱碳

Global enthusiasm for nuclear power fell after the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdown in Japan.

2011年日本福岛反应堆熔毁后，全球对核电的热情下降。

However, as countries try to slash carbon emissions to combat climate change, many governments are rethinking their approach to atomic power. At a March 21 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Brussels, several world leaders called for a reinvestment in nuclear power.

然而，随着各国试图削减碳排放以应对气候变化，许多政府正在重新考虑其对原子能的态度。3月21日，在布鲁塞尔举行的国际原子能机构（IAEA）会议上，多位世界领导人呼吁对核电进行再投资。

“Adapting supply chains take time. And doing it in a secure and reliable way takes time. But it is clearly one of the assignments to the industry and to governments working on this, is to adapt supply chains as fast as possible and also … to disconnect from Russian supply,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told delegates at the IAEA meeting.

“调整供应链需要时间。以安全可靠的方式做到这一点需要时间。但显然，该行业和各国政府的任务之一就是尽快调整供应链，并切断来自俄罗斯的供应，”比利时首相亚历山大·德克罗（Alexander De Croo）在国际原子能机构会议上对代表们说。

“But we need to balance things, I mean, in a sense, if you want to decarbonize, if you want to reduce CO2 production, we need to make sure that our nuclear power plants can continue,” De Croo added.

“但我们需要保持平衡，我的意思是，从某种意义上说，如果你想脱碳，如果你想减少二氧化碳的产量，我们需要确保我们的核电站能够继续运行，”德克罗补充道。

China ‘displacement’

中国“置换”

The report says Russian exports to China have also increased, raising suspicions that Beijing could be importing Russian enriched uranium to facilitate greater exports of China’s own enriched uranium supply — so-called “displacement.”

报告称，俄罗斯对中国的出口也有所增加，令人怀疑北京可能进口俄罗斯浓缩铀，以促进中国出口更多自己的浓缩铀供应，即所谓的“置换”。

“We know that China is also keen to increase its own role, expanded zone role on global nuclear fuel markets. So that raises questions as to whether the additional imports into China of Russian uranium could potentially be backing increased exports of Chinese material. That is very difficult to prove definitively,” said report author Dolzikova.

“我们知道，中国也热衷于增强自己的角色，扩大在全球核燃料市场上的区域角色。所以这就引发了这样的问题：中国从俄罗斯额外进口的铀是否可能支持中国材料出口的增加。这很难得到明确的证明，”报告作者多尔兹科娃说。

Self-sufficiency

自给自足

Western nations are trying to boost their nuclear self-sufficiency. France is boosting uranium enrichment capacity by more than 30 percent at a site in the southern region of Valence, according to nuclear industry reports. The American firm Westinghouse and Ukrainian firm Energoatom have begun producing nuclear fuel that can supply former Soviet reactors in eastern Europe, from a site in Sweden.

西方国家正在努力提高核自给自足能力。据核工业界的消息，法国正在将南部瓦朗斯地区的一处铀浓缩能力提高30%以上。美国西屋电气公司（Westinghouse）和乌克兰国家核能发电公（Energoatom）已经开始在瑞典的一处地点生产核燃料，提供给东欧的前苏联反应堆。

Dolzikova of RUSI said it will take at least two years for the West to end its reliance on Russian nuclear fuel. While boosting Western enrichment capacity is vital, the RUSI report also recommends that trade measures are tightened to cut Russia out of global markets.

多尔兹科娃表示，西方至少需要两年时间才能结束对俄罗斯核燃料的依赖。虽然提高西方浓缩能力至关重要，但这份报告还建议收紧贸易措施，将俄罗斯排除在全球市场之外。

“Sanctions — or any kind of restrictions — need to be multilateral. Otherwise, because of the complexity of enriched uranium supply chains and fuel supply chains, Russia will find the weakest link in that wall of restrictions to try to continue accessing Western markets,” Dolzikova added.

“制裁——或任何类型的限制——必须是多边的。否则，由于浓缩铀供应链和燃料供应链的复杂性，俄罗斯将找到限制之墙中最薄弱的环节来试图继续进入西方市场，”多尔兹科娃补充道。