The huge gray cylinders, stamped with the symbol of radioactivity, were unloaded this Monday morning in the port of Dunkirk from a Russian cargo ship. Greenpeace denounces the delivery to France of this “significant” shipment of enriched uranium from Russia, accrediting according to the NGO the “dependence” of France on the Russian nuclear industry, a sector which still escapes to the international sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a new illustration that the French nuclear industry continues to trade uranium with Rosatom”, the Russian public nuclear giant, reacted to AFP Pauline Boyer, campaign manager on nuclear and nuclear energy. energetic transition. “The continuation of this nuclear trade with Russia, in time of war, is scandalous”, she denounced in reference to the invasion of Ukraine.
The seventh delivery in a year
With a total net weight of around 55 tonnes, this is, again according to Greenpeace, the 7th delivery of enriched uranium to France from Russia since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 2022. According to Greenpeace, the labeling of the cargo, authenticated by AFP, mentions a “delivery” between Tenex, a subsidiary of Rosatom, and Orano (ex-Areva), the French nuclear fuel player.
“The Russian cargo ship Baltiyskiy 202 arriving from Saint Petersburg unloaded 25 cylindrical containers containing Russian enriched uranium for the French group Orano”, detailed Greenpeace in a press release, on the eve of the solemn vote in the National Assembly of the project. nuclear acceleration law. These cylinders were then “loaded onto a dozen trucks bound” for the Orano site in the Drôme, to then be sent to Romans-sur-Isère, to the Framatome plant to be assembled into fuel, according to the NGO.
On behalf of EDF
“Orano is not the owner of this material” which is intended to be “stored on our Tricastin site, on behalf of EDF”, replied to AFP a spokesperson for Orano. “This is indeed material enriched by Tenex for EDF under a contract signed before February 2022,” confirmed the electrician to AFP. Orano claims to have terminated its commercial contract with Rosatom in October 2022, unlike EDF which is linked to a contract concluded with the subsidiary Tenex in 2018, before the war, to recycle and enrich uranium from the reprocessing of the group’s spent fuel. French.
In a March 11 report, Greenpeace denounced France’s “dependence” on Russian nuclear power, a sector that is not targeted by international sanctions, unlike hydrocarbons. The NGO noted in particular that France had received in 2022 from Russia “a third of the enriched uranium necessary for the operation of French nuclear power plants for one year”, a quantity of 312 tonnes, tripled compared to 2021, according to it. .
The French government had refuted this argument, assuring that “our country is in no way dependent on Russia for the operation of its nuclear power plants” and “has been able to diversify its sources of supply”.