France Resumes Reprocessed Uranium Exports to Russia, Greenpeace Calls Move “Immoral”

France has resumed shipments of reprocessed uranium to Russia for the first time in more than three years, a move Greenpeace says contradicts Europe’s efforts to limit dependence on Moscow amid the war in Ukraine.

The consignment was observed on Saturday at the port of Dunkirk and involved at least ten containers loaded onto the cargo vessel Mikhail Dudin.

Greenpeace France said its members filmed the containers, which carried radioactive labels, being loaded onto the Panamanian-flagged ship.

The vessel is regularly used to transport uranium between France and St Petersburg. According to the organisation, this latest shipment is the first consignment of reprocessed uranium it has documented since 2022.

The environmental group criticised the move, stating that while the trade remains legal, it is inappropriate during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

A representative from Greenpeace described the shipment as inconsistent with France’s stated goals of reducing energy dependence on Russia, adding that the resumption comes on the same day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is being hosted at the Élysée Palace.

The shipment forms part of a long-standing commercial relationship between France’s state-controlled utility EDF and Tenex, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom.

EDF signed a €600-million contract with Tenex in 2018 for the recycling of reprocessed uranium. These operations have not been affected by international sanctions.

Russia hosts the only industrial facility capable of converting reprocessed uranium into material that can be enriched and reused, located at Seversk in Siberia. With uranium prices rising on international markets, reenrichment has become more economically viable for power companies.

Greenpeace said that only around 10% of the reenriched uranium sent back to France is used at the Cruas nuclear power plant, the only site in the country capable of operating with enriched reprocessed uranium.

The French government had instructed EDF to stop exporting reprocessed uranium to Russia in 2022, following Greenpeace’s discovery of shipments shortly after the invasion began.

Greenpeace argued that the latest consignment suggests an intensification of nuclear trade between France and Rosatom, despite ongoing discussions within the European Union on further sanctions targeting Russian energy links.

The organisation called for transparency from the French government regarding the quantities of reprocessed uranium exported since 2022. It also urged France to halt further shipments and to detail its timetable for phasing out reliance on Russian nuclear services under the REPowerEU programme.

Greenpeace additionally requested the termination of contracts linked to Russian enriched uranium and natural uranium from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that transit through Rosatom.

Trade in reprocessed uranium between EDF, Orano and Russia had previously ended in 2010 but resumed in 2021. It was once again halted in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the NGO’s disclosure of a shipment from Dunkirk in September that year. France continues to rely on Rosatom for this process, as no other conversion facility exists worldwide.

The material sent to Russia originates from spent fuel processed at the La Hague plant and is stored at Pierrelatte in southern France. Greenpeace estimates that around 35,000 tonnes of reprocessed uranium have accumulated there.

Reference: Greenpeace

Source: Maritime Shipping News