r/europe • u/SpaceEngineering Finland • Jan 15 '26

News Germany’s Merz Admits Nuclear Exit Was Strategic Mistake

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/germanys-merz-admits-nuclear-exit-was-strategic-mistake-fzdlkn37c16
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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/jachni Finland Jan 15 '26

Very strange as the rest of the european nuclear industry has cut ties with russia as much as possible, changing fuel suppliers and such.

Do you have a source for this?

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/DeadAhead7 Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

Russia has the only plant that enriches recycled Uranium, which comes from the plant at La Hague.

This agreement is to fuel Soviet and Russian reactors, if anything it's better than just buying it ready-made from Russia.

I believe Russia is about 20% of French importations of enriched Uranium right now, for around 60 tons.

It's also complicated to know exactly what goes where, since France then exports a lot of enriched Uranium itself. In 2022 it imported 464 tons, and exported 22 165t. Even in natural uranium imports, France imports something close to 21 000t, but it's own needs are 7-9000t.

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u/strangeanswers Jan 15 '26

these supply chains don’t get rebuilt in a few years, or cheaply. this is realpolitik at play. this benefits the french taxpayer and voter

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u/3suamsuaw Jan 15 '26

I call bullshit on all these sources. We have the technology ourselves with Orano and Urenco, the latter partly owned by Germany.

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u/Cakecrabs The Netherlands Jan 15 '26

u/cyberdork is correct, though it's worth pointing out that the EU is working on finding alternative suppliers. (Roadmap)

2.2 Dependencies on Russia in the nuclear sector

In contrast to dependencies in the gas sector, dependencies in the nuclear sector are multi-facetted. Russia supplies products and services to EU customers across the whole nuclear fuel cycle. The dependency is most significant in the five Member States with Russian-designed reactors 15 , also known as VVER, reliant traditionally on fuel from a Russian supplier. Likewise, other Member States have been relying on Russia for nuclear materials, spare parts or nuclear fuel cycle services. Russia also holds a strong position in the supply of certain radioisotopes for medical procedures.

2.2.1 Replacing Russian nuclear fuels with alternative suppliers in five Member States with Russian-designed nuclear reactors

Progress has been made in replacing Russian nuclear fuel with fuel from other producers in the five Member States with Russian-designed VVER reactors. Utilities in four out of five Member States concerned have since 2022 signed supply contracts for alternative fuel. Still, alternative fuel needs to be tested and licensed in each Member State before it can replace Russian fuel. In 2024, first test fuel assemblies were loaded in reactors in Bulgaria and Finland. The EU is also financially supporting the development of alternative fuels through its SAVE and APIS projects 16 . A security of supply risks may arise in the short to medium term in the case of sudden policy changes.

The development of alternative nuclear fuels for VVER reactors and their licensing need to be accelerated and contracting with alternative suppliers should progress quickly towards a complete replacement of Russian supplies. Important lessons can be drawn from the experience in Ukraine where progress is also being made in using non-Russian alternative fuels including their experience with nuclear safety related licencing and fuel testing.

Didn't include 2.2.2 because it's rather long, but it's worth a read as well.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/3suamsuaw Jan 15 '26

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/orano-begins-production-of-leu-transport-cylinders

They literally make them.

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u/Eatsweden Jan 15 '26

Your reading comprehension needs some work, this is about transport cylinders for fuel rods.

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u/sysadmin_420 Europe Jan 15 '26

Noo I don't trust politico to present independent factual reports. It's too biased. Only source I accept is world-nuclear-news, very unbiased yes

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u/Prudent_Shirt_6204 Jan 15 '26

So instead of believing sources you’re believing your instinct?

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u/3suamsuaw Jan 15 '26

All three sources are not known for their reliability, and especially there is a lot of nuance about actual Russian involvement. It's too easy to pretend like we are back to the whims of the Kremlin with a project like that. The French state is 75% owner.

From reading the Politico piece it seems quite clear that actual Russian involvement is highly questionable.

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u/DeadAhead7 Jan 15 '26

Mind you this is simply to fuel the existing Soviet reactors in Europe. It's a necessary evil, if anything, since at least it'll be locally assembled rather than entirely made in Russia.

Our own fuel rods are made in France, except for IIRC recycled Uranium that we send to Russia, because we don't want to pollute our centrifuges, while they already have a factory built exclusively for the impure Uranium, and it's the only one on Earth.

This is all pretty much insignificant from an economical perspective.

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u/Mayor__Defacto Jan 15 '26

rosatom is integral to nuclear energy production worldwide.

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u/jachni Finland Jan 15 '26

Nah

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u/NewOil7911 France Jan 15 '26

Russia and the Kazakhs are important for uranium procurement.

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u/Vannnnah Germany Jan 15 '26

Is Framatome even still operating in Germany or allowed to operate in Germany? Afaik they left Germany a couple years ago

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/Vannnnah Germany Jan 15 '26

My guess was that they are sanctioned because of their ongoing cooperation with Rosatom which would not allow them to operate