Russia has begun implementing agreements to construct a low power nuclear reactor (SMR) in Myanmar. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced the move during a high-level diplomatic meeting in Moscow with Myanmar’s President, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Russia and Myanmar signed ten documents in the Kremlin on during the visit, including a joint declaration on countering Western sanctions. Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Min Aung Hlaing produced a package of agreements covering nuclear power, liquefied natural gas, a deep-water port and search-and-rescue satellites, among other topics.
The plant will feature a Russian-designed reactor with an initial capacity of 110 MWe, built with the technical capability to scale up to 330 MWe in subsequent expansions. The implementation stems from an intergovernmental cooperation agreement originally signed between the two nations in March 2025. Rosatom is steering the execution of the project. Sources close to the delegation indicate that the nuclear plant is planned for construction in the Bago Region.
Co-operation between Myanmar and Russia has been growing since 2021, including the launch of Myanmar’s first nuclear information centre based in Yangon. In 2022, Rosatom and Myanmar’s Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Electrification signed a Roadmap on cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes for 2022-2023 on the sidelines of the VII Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “We are beginning to implement agreements on the construction of a low-power nuclear power plant in Myanmar,” Mishustin said. “I am confident that this project will give a powerful impetus to the development of cooperation in related fields, including fundamental and applied scientific research, and will become a new symbol of Russian-Myanmar friendship.”
