German company prepares production of nuclear fuels for Soviet-designed power plants
Der Spiegel
A company in northern Germany is readying the production of nuclear fuel for Soviet-designed power plants using Russian licences and machinery, news magazine Der Spiegel has reported. The company, Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF), a subsidiary of French nuclear power company Framatome, said it would start adapting its plant in the town of Lingen in the state of Lower Saxony and plans to supply nuclear power plants in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland from next year.
Germany has fully exited nuclear power generation and shut down its last nuclear power plants in 2023. However, the phase-out did not cover all uses of nuclear energy and also allows for continued fuel production in Lingen. The factory in northern Germany has come under scrutiny already in 2024, when a group of Russian nuclear power experts were deployed there to assist Framatome in modernising the factory despite the heightened tensions between Russia and most other European countries due to Russia's war on Ukraine.
Lower Saxony's environment minister, Green Party politician Christian Meyer, granted final approval despite local criticism, even though he said he is highly critical of the project himself. Meyer called the nuclear joint venture with Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom very questionable and detrimental to support for Ukraine.
Framatome and TVEL, a subsidiary of Rosatom, have set up a joint venture for the licensed manufacture of fuel assemblies, which the Lingen plant will now produce on its behalf. Fuel made for Western reactors cannot be used in Soviet-designed power plants.
The project is controversial because it gives Rosatom a role in Germany while Russia continues its war against Ukraine. Rosatom has also escaped EU sanctions against Russia, as these require the unanimous backing of all 27 member states and no agreement has been reached so far.
The permit was granted based on a federal security assessment from February. Since then, however, the federal government has warned of Russian hybrid attacks, especially after an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport, which the government has blamed on Russia.
"That the entire federal government of chancellor Merz accepts the cooperation with Russia's nuclear company in Lingen without concern and sees no change in the security situation irritates and astonishes me greatly," said Meyer. The federal environment ministry has said the permit must be granted if legal requirements are met, while stressing that it views the cooperation critically.
Environmental group BUND and anti-nuclear initiative .ausgestrahlt have challenged the permit in court and announced an urgent application to keep work on the ground from starting before a ruling. Supporters argue the project strengthens supply security for eastern European plants, which would no longer need to buy fuel directly from Rosatom, while critics doubt it will reduce dependence on Russia.