8 November 2025
Around 300 employees of a separate division of JSC Institute Orgenergostroy (Moscow), which is building a nuclear research facility based on a multipurpose fast neutron reactor (MBIR) in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Oblast, have gone on strike due to a two-month wage arrears. The workers stated they will not return to the site until they receive all their due payments, Kommersant reports .
According to protesters, wages have not been paid since September 2025, travel expenses have not been reimbursed since May and June, and vacation pay has not been reimbursed since August. Furthermore, the company has canceled lunches and transportation for staff, and shift workers have begun to be evicted from their housing. Appeals to the prosecutor’s office, according to workers, have been unsuccessful. “We have no money to pay our loans, debts have accumulated, and living conditions are terrible: the toilets are overflowing, and we buy water out of pocket,” the company’s employees complained in a video message to Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
The workers sent a collective statement to the company’s management and the regional labor inspectorate, citing Article 142 of the Labor Code, which gives the right to suspend work if wages are delayed for more than 15 days while maintaining average wages.
JSC Institute Orgenergostroy is constructing a nuclear research facility based on the Multipurpose Fast Research Reactor (MBIR) in Dimitrovgrad. The client for the work is JSC State Research Center — Research Institute of Atomic Reactors. The contract value is 33.396 billion rubles, and completion is scheduled for June 30, 2027.
Moscow attaches particular importance to the project. Speaking at the World Atomic Week International Forum in late September, Vladimir Putin called the development “revolutionary” and noted that an International Research Center is being established on the MBIR reactor site.
The company’s wage arrears are systemic. According to the arbitration court, more than 40 lawsuits for debt collection were filed against JSC Orgenergostroy in October alone. Bankruptcy petitions have been pending for the company since June. At the end of September, the Sakhalin Region State Labor Inspectorate reported debts to 53 employees totaling over 700,000 rubles.