Hamna Tariq
If the United States falls behind Russia and China in South Asia, it won’t just forfeit clean energy leadership—it will forfeit the future of nuclear diplomacy in the region.
South Asia is racing to meet its rising power demand, which is projected to triple by 2050, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. India ambitiously plans for net-zero by 2070. Pakistan plans to generate sixty percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. Bangladesh follows closely with a forty percent target by 2041. While solar and wind are part of the solution, nuclear power—an emissions-free, base-load, reliable energy source—is increasingly viewed in the region as essential to meeting these targets.
India and Pakistan have operated nuclear plants for decades, but both are now planning massive expansions. India aims to grow its nuclear capacity from seven GW to 100 GW by 2047, while Pakistan plans to build thirty-two nuclear reactors by 2050.
China and Russia are capitalizing on this. Russia’s Rosatom is constructing six reactors at Kudankulam in India. China has financed and built every operational civilian reactor in Pakistan and is providing over $5 billion in loans to cover the costs for the latest units of Karachi’s Nuclear Power Plant. China is also providing support to build Pakistan’s largest nuclear plant to date, the Chashma 5. In Bangladesh, Russia is building the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s first.
These aren’t just energy projects. They’re long-term partnerships that bind South Asian countries to Chinese and Russian technology, financing, and fuel. Meanwhile, since building the Tarapur Atomic Power Station in India in the 1960s, the United States has not built or financially supported a single nuclear power plant in the region.
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