Rosatom is an institution, specifically the State Atomic Energy Corporation of the Russian Federation, which acts as the central holding company for Russia's entire nuclear energy complex. The corporation was established in 2007, evolving from the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) created on March 9, 2004, which itself replaced the abolished Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom). This transformation solved the problem of consolidating the vast Russian nuclear industry, which includes both civilian and defense sectors, into a single state enterprise with broad powers.
Rosatom's mechanism involves managing the complete nuclear production chain, from uranium exploration and enrichment to nuclear fuel fabrication, power generation, and the nuclear weapons complex. It incorporates over 350 enterprises and scientific institutions. The corporation is structured into five main branches, including the nuclear energy complex, the nuclear powered icebreaker fleet, and the nuclear weapons complex. Rosatom has recently expanded its focus, setting a goal in 2020 to triple its revenue to ₽4 trillion by 2030, with 40% coming from new lines of business, and has commissioned nine wind farms with a total capacity of 1 GW as of 2023.
For an informed Indian reader, Rosatom connects directly to the country's energy security through the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu. Rosatom is the key collaborator, having the Engineering and Procurement (EP) contract for the KKNPP, which is India's largest nuclear power plant. Units 1 and 2 of KKNPP, which use Rosatom's VVER-1000 light water reactors, were connected to the national grid in 2013 and 2016, respectively. Rosatom is currently involved in the construction of Units 3, 4, 5, and 6 at Kudankulam and is discussing the potential for new projects in India using the larger VVER-1200 reactors and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).