G7: Western Nations Announce Nuclear Power Alliance to ‘Displace Putin’ From Energy Market

SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 19: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin atte
Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and France have announced a nuclear power alliance “aimed at displacing Putin” from the international market, following meetings of the G7 in Sapporo, Japan on Sunday.

The five nuclear power-producing nations of the Group of Seven (G7) economic forum — formerly the G8 prior to Russia being expelled following the invasion of Crimea in 2014 — have vowed to leverage their respective resources in order to “undermine Russia’s grip on supply chains” on the international energy market, the UK government announced in a statement.

“This agreement will be used as the basis for pushing Putin out of the nuclear fuel market entirely, and doing so as quickly as possible, to cut off another means for him to fund his barbaric attack on Ukraine and fundamentally leave Russia out in the cold,” Number 10 Downing Street said.

The announcement from the U.S., UK, Canada, Japan, and France is perhaps an admission from Western powers who have been preoccupied with the so far failed green agenda, of the geopolitical realities of the world, and the need for nuclear power to maintain energy independence from adversarial regimes such as Russia and the Gulf states.

The UK government said that at present, nuclear stations provide approximately around 15 per cent of the nation’s energy supply, but it wishes to expand this to at least one quarter by the year 2050. Nuclear power — one of the world’s safest energy sources — has already been demonstrated as a reliable source of energy across the English Channel in France, where nearly 70 per cent of energy is derived from nuclear power. Nuclear also makes up around 20 per cent of all energy used in the United States.

Meanwhile, since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has exported over $1 billion worth of nuclear energy-related goods and materials, according to the UK’s Royal United Services Institute, which also found that exports from Moscow actually increased by over 20 per cent since last year, with Communist China swooping in to buy the excess materials and energy in the wake of EU sanctions.

Commenting on the formation of the alliance, British Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The UK has been at the very heart of global efforts to support Ukraine, defeat Putin and ensure neither him nor anyone like him can ever think they can hold the world to ransom over their energy again.

“This is the next vital step, uniting with other countries to show Putin that Russia isn’t welcome anymore, and in shoring up our global energy security by using a reliable international supply of nuclear fuel from safe, secure sources.”

The Tory party politician claimed that the neo-liberal ‘Conservative’ government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is still intent on pursuing allegedly green forms of energy such as wind and solar and exporting such technology abroad.

“I want to be crystal clear that the expertise we have from having the four biggest wind farms off our shores is available to support countries looking to invest in their supplies – something that will benefit them, create green jobs and opportunities at home and boost energy security around the world,” Schapps said.

The announcement from the G7 meeting in Japan notably did not include two members of the economic forum, Germany and Italy. While Italy began producing nuclear energy in the early 1960s, all of the nation’s power plants were shut down for good in 1990 following a referendum in 1987.

Meanwhile, Germany closed down its three remaining nuclear power plants on Saturday after a phaseout began under former Chancellor Angela Merkel in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

The European Union’s largest economy saw its green energy strategy fully exposed last year following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the flow of gas from Moscow drying up amid Western sanctions and then the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

Germany was embarrassingly forced to fire up coal power plants in order to keep the lights on and was still bailed out from potential blackouts by an unseasonably warm winter.

The decision by the leftist coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to follow through with shut down of the country’s final three nuclear plants will all but ensure that Germany will remain dependent on other countries to power its economy.

Lammenting the closure of the plants, the successor to Angela Merkel as the leader of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party, Friedrich Merz said that it was a “black day for Germany.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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