Russia and China sign nuclear cooperation deals on fusion and training

Three new nuclear memorandums gave Russia and China a broader frame for cooperation, but the most consequential part of the deal was not diplomatic theater. The agreements tied together the people, laboratories and industrial programs that can actually move the needle in nuclear energy over the next few years.

During Vladimir Putin’s visit to China, the two sides signed one memorandum on developing human resources for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including training personnel and building cooperation between youth and women’s industry communities. A second focused on scientific and technical cooperation in nuclear fusion. A third widened the scope again, adding nuclear fusion, nuclear medicine, accelerator technology, photonic technologies and quantum technologies.

Alexei Likhachev, the Rosatom chief, cast the package as part of a long strategic partnership that reaches beyond plant construction into future technologies. That is the right lens for readers trying to separate symbolism from substance: the training memorandum supports the workforce pipeline, while the fusion and advanced-technology texts point toward the research base that underpins the next generation of nuclear work.

Xi Jinping and Putin also used their joint statement to reaffirm peaceful nuclear energy cooperation. The most concrete industrial piece remained Rosatom’s work on Russian-designed power units at the Tianwan and Xudapu nuclear power plants. Tianwan units 7 and 8, agreed in June 2018, are already deep into the build phase. Construction began in May 2021 for unit 7 and in February 2022 for unit 8, with commercial operation scheduled for 2026 and 2027.

That timing matters because it shows where the relationship is already producing hardware, not just communiqués. The Tianwan project is one of China’s most important imported-reactor programs, and its schedule gives the Russia-China nuclear partnership a visible near-term payoff even as both governments talk up fusion, isotope work and accelerator science.

The broader backdrop is just as important. Russia and China signed a comprehensive long-term cooperation programme on fast-neutron reactors and closing the nuclear fuel cycle in 2021, adding a fuel-cycle dimension to a relationship that now spans reactor construction, training and advanced research. Put together, the latest MoUs do not replace the old industrial core. They reinforce it, extending a partnership that already reaches from reactor basements to fusion labs and the institutions that will staff them.