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Ukraine war: EU also dependent on Russian uranium

2022-03-06T19:56:42.059Z


Since the Kremlin troops invaded Ukraine, many in the EU have seen nuclear power as an alternative to Russian gas. In fact, according to SPIEGEL information, there are more dependencies here than expected.


Enlarge image

Cooling towers of the Czech nuclear power plant Temlin

Photo:

Petr Josek / REUTERS

The European Union is more dependent on Russia for nuclear power than is previously known.

This emerges from an internal memo by the Green MP Stefan Wenzel, which is available to SPIEGEL.

20 percent of the natural uranium used in the EU was imported from Russia in 2020, according to the paper, which is based in part on figures from the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) - the central EU authority responsible for sourcing this raw material .

The same amount is imported from the ex-Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, a long-standing Kremlin ally.

These quantities could probably still be compensated on the world market - for example via suppliers from Canada, Australia, South Africa or Niger.

More serious is that, according to the paper, Russia also produces 26 percent of the enriched uranium required in the EU.

For the operators of so-called VWER reactors, Russia is even the only supplier of custom-made hexagonal fuel rods.

The ESA considers the EU to be “significantly vulnerable” here in particular.

The dependency on Russian fuel elements was only recently made clear by a special flight, writes Wenzel, who is also spokesman for the environment and nuclear safety for the Greens in the Bundestag.

On March 1, a Russian Il-76 transport aircraft was allowed to land in Slovakia to supply two Slovakian nuclear power plants with new fuel elements - despite the EU flight ban on Russian aircraft.

Dependence on Russia is a "serious problem," says Wenzel.

According to the Green Paper, there are a total of 18 reactors in the EU that rely on the hexagonal Russian fuel rods:

  • Loviisa 1 and 2 in Finland,

  • Temelin 1 and 2 and Dukovany 1 to 4 in the Czech Republic,

  • Paks 1 to 4 in Hungary,

  • Mochovce 1 and 2 and Bohunice 3 and 4 in Slovakia and

  • Kozloduy 4 and 5 in Bulgaria.

It is currently difficult for the operators to reduce their dependence on Russian fuels, according to the Greens' memo.

Because the Western manufacturers still have little experience with the production of hexagonal fuel elements.

Only the US group Westinghouse has succeeded in supplying certain WWER reactors in the Ukraine with fuel elements in recent years.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Union has been rethinking its energy supply.

In the case of natural gas in particular, the EU wants to become less dependent on Russian supplies as quickly as possible.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-03-06

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