Media: Greenpeace calls out France over uranium deals with Russia

Representatives of the environmental organisation Greenpeace have filmed the loading of about ten containers marked “radioactive” onto the "Mikhail Dudin", a ship flying the Panamanian flag, at the port of Dunkirk, as per Deutsche Welle.

Greenpeace criticised France for sending uranium to Russia for re-enrichment despite Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. While the shipments do not formally violate any bans, the organisation described them as “immoral” and demanded that France terminate its contracts with Rosatom, the Russian state corporation that controls the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in the occupied territory of Ukraine.

The environmental group noted that this shipment is the first to be recorded in the last three years.

In 2018, French state-owned energy company Électricité de France signed a €600 million contract with Tenex, a Rosatom subsidiary, for uranium re-enrichment. Natural uranium, mined from mines, must be enriched to be used as fuel in nuclear power plants. France carries out this process at its specialised plant in Tricastin (Drôme department), operated by Orano.

Earlier, Greenpeace called France’s continued nuclear trade with Russia “outrageous,” emphasising that, unlike hydrocarbons, the nuclear energy sector is not subject to international sanctions.

The NGO highlighted that in 2022, France received “a third of the enriched uranium needed to operate French nuclear power plants throughout the year” from Russia — a figure that tripled compared to previous years. In the same year, all French exports of spent uranium were sent to Russia, and all imports of enriched recycled uranium returning to France came from Russia.

“Contrary to claims by nuclear industry advocates, the French nuclear sector’s dependence on Russian authorities is enormous, which may explain why France continues to actively oppose the introduction of pan-European sanctions against Rosatom,” Greenpeace said on November 16.

By Tamilla Hasanova