The Kremlin is looking to catapult Russia back onto the world scene as a major provider of nuclear power. The Times of London reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is absorbing Russia’s nuclear capital into one nuclear energy juggernaut: AtomEnergoProm.

The new holding company, created by presidential decree back in late April, is vertically integrated, encompassing the full spectrum of nuclear energy production, from mining Russia’s vast uranium reserves to enrichment to fuel production to power plant construction and operation, and even decommissioning.

“AtomEnergoProm was created to compete on the global market and boost nuclear power generation within the country,” Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of Russia’s nuclear energy agency, said.

World Nuclear News reports that the Russian state owns 100 percent of AtomEnergoProm and almost 100 percent of its five subsidiary enterprises: tvel (uranium extraction and nuclear fuel production), Technabsexport (uranium extraction and enrichment), AtomEnergoMash (nuclear power plant construction), AtomStroyExport (foreign nuclear power plant construction) and Rosenergoatom (nuclear power plant operations). Foreign investment is allowed only in these subsidiaries’ subsidiaries.

The new energy giant is a direct competitor to France’s Areva and Japan’s Westinghouse. Putin’s goal is for AtomEnergoProm to construct two nuclear power plants per year from 2011 to 2014 and then three per year up to 2020. This will increase the share of Russia’s nuclear energy capacity from 16 percent to as much as 30 percent. The company is likely to eventually grab one fifth of the world’s new reactor market.

As a market competitor, AtomEnergoProm is not only one of the largest nuclear companies on Earth, but its uranium enrichment operations are also known to be 15 to 20 percent more efficient than those in the West.

With its booming economy and soaring energy demand, China could become one of AtomEnergoProm’s biggest customers. It is possible that the company will become an important part of Moscow and Beijing’s surging relationship.