US sounds alarm on nuclear reliance

The United States (US) has issued a warning that the increasing dominance of China and Russia in the global nuclear power industry-particularly in the construction and operation of new nuclear reactorsmay heighten safety risks and create major vulnerabilities for countries relying on this technology to secure their future energy supplies.

- By MYRNA M. VELASCO

At the recently concluded Singapore International Energy Week, US Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires Graham Mayer forthrightly stated that the world's growing reliance on China and Russia for nuclear technologies threatens to erode decades of hard-won global safeguards.

"Dependency on China and Russia puts at risk the high international standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation that the US and partners have upheld and championed for over 65 years," he stressed.

He emphasized that the peril lies in how China and Russia typically wield "economic coercion and influence" as geostrategic weapons, thus shackling countries to their energy technologies and tightening the chains of dependency in global markets.