Uranium imports from Russia to Germany increased by 70%
4 January 05:00
Russia has been waging war against Ukraine for almost three years now, but Germany is still importing Russian uranium. In 2024, at least 68.6 tons of uranium were imported from Russia to Germany, which is almost 70% more than in 2023. This was reported by the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
The uranium was delivered to the Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF) plant located in Lingen (Lower Saxony), where fuel cells are manufactured.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety confirmed that the uranium import had taken place. The ministry explains that the EU has not yet imposed an embargo on the supply of nuclear fuel from Russia for peaceful purposes.
“At present, there is no embargo on the import or export of nuclear fuel for peaceful use imposed by the European Union on Russia,” the ministry said.
ANF is a subsidiary of the French company Framatome, which is considering a joint venture with Russia’s Rosatom to produce fuel for nuclear power plants in Germany.
It is planned that production could be located at Framatome’s plant in Lingen. Last year, Framatome established a joint venture with the Russian company TVEL Fuel.
Earlier, the media reported that Germany believes that cooperation with a Russian company in Germany could open the door to spies or potential sabotage.
“This danger is not only hypothetical, but also associated with a foreign state-owned company, whose head is not only waging an aggressive war in Europe against international law, but also openly threatens to use nuclear weapons,” says the legal opinion of professor and environmental lawyer Gerhard Roller.
The Framatome plant in Lingen already produces fuel for reactors in the UK, Belgium and Sweden.
Through the partnership with Russia, Framatome expects to accelerate the commercialization of VVER fuel, as it will be identical to that supplied by Rosatom to the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
