Nuclear Monitor #923

Jan van Evert    

The French company Framatome has applied for a license to expand production of nuclear fuel rods for so called VVER reactors at its German plant. The fuel production plant in Lingen, a small town close to the Dutch border, produces special hexagonal fuel rods. These are used in VVER reactors, a Soviet-designed reactor of which there are 19 in use in mostly East European countries. The plant is operated by its subsidiary Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF) in collaboration with the Russian company TVEl, a subsidiary fully owned by state-owned Rosatom.

But the license application has caused an avalanche of 11,000 objections since its publication in early 2024. To address these objections, the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment organized a meeting of 400 people between November 20-23. However, it remains unclear what decision will be made on the fate of the license and when.Enriched uranium and fuel pellets (used to assemble fuel rods) are still being supplied from Russia to the plant in Lingen to produce fuel for Western nuclear power plants.

Since there are currently no sanctions or restrictions on the import of these products from Russia to the EU, such deliveries continued even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The only alternative supplier for these reactors is currently the Canadian company Westinghouse which has a plant in Sweden for this purpose.

Critics worry that granting Russians access to a German nuclear fuel production facility could be exploited by Moscow for industrial espionage or even sabotage, as these people will be employees of the Rosatom state corporation which is actively involved in military operations in Ukraine. Christian Meyer, the Environment Minister who is responsible for deciding on the license application, has repeatedly said publicly that he shares protestors’ concerns and takes the security threats very seriously.

The problem can be solved since Framatome is developing its own production technology for VVER fuel rods, but this will only be completed in the period 2025-2028. In the meantime, it will only be able to fulfil its contractual obligations on schedule by using licensed Russian fuel assemblies. But even if the license in Germany is denied, Framatome may still have the opportunity to try to set up a licensed assembly of Russian fuel at its plant in France.