Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom is looking for customers in Turkmenistan and has presented small modular nuclear reactors in Ashgabat, reported The Times of Central Asia.
Rosatom showcased the “small-capacity units” at an international energy conference in Ashgabat on November 3–5, attended by more than 100 companies from 13 countries. It also proposed cooperation on wind power and nuclear medicine. Dmitry Konstantinov, deputy director of Rosatom’s Central Asia office, said that even countries rich in energy resources need to diversify their energy mix. Deputy Prime Minister Baymyrat Annamammedov, Energy Minister Annageldi Saparov and Construction Minister Abdulla Geldiyev visited the Rosatom stand, but no commitment was announced.
The pitch faces obvious questions. Turkmenistan holds some of the world’s largest natural gas reserves and exports about 35 billion cubic metres of gas a year to China and about 9 billion kWh of electricity to Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Its problem is a lack of export routes, not a lack of power.
Rosatom is expanding in Central Asia as Western sanctions limit its business elsewhere. It is building Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant, estimated at $16.5 billion, and a plant in Uzbekistan capped at $9.5 billion. China National Nuclear Corporation was chosen for Kazakhstan’s second and third plants, so competition for Central Asia’s nuclear market is growing.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 11, 2026