Status: 03/30/2023 2:15 p.m
Is France making common cause with Russia in Lingen? The French company Framatome and a Russian company want to produce fuel rods for old nuclear power plants of Russian design in Emsland.
The Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment has received a corresponding application to change production, as a spokesman for NDR in Lower Saxony confirmed on request. Accordingly, the Framatome subsidiary ANF wants to manufacture hexagonal fuel rods in Lingen, which are intended for use in Eastern European nuclear power plants of Soviet design. The Russian company Rosatom owns the monopoly for these hexagonal fuel rods, it is said. However, because of the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Russian companies and private individuals are on the European Union’s list of sanctions.
Environment Minister Meyer must decide
Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) must approve the application – or reject it. The Environment Minister criticized the project for NDR. “Doing business with Putin should be ended, and that also and especially applies to the nuclear sector,” said Meyer. “In view of Putin’s brutal energy war against Europe, I consider it politically fatal to consolidate this through joint ventures, direct or indirect participation by Russia,” said Meyer. According to the coalition agreement, the country is also committed to ending uranium deliveries from Russia to the fuel element factory in Lingen.
Backdoor approval?
It is currently unclear when the Ministry of the Environment will decide on the application. Apparently, Framatome and Rosatom want to force approval through the back door. Initially, the companies in Lingen had planned a joint venture. After the start of the Ukraine war, however, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) put a stop to this project. The companies withdrew the application at the time.
Initiatives demand a political veto from Hanover and Berlin
Environmental and anti-nuclear initiatives have massively criticized the project. “For 13 months, Russia has been waging a bloody and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. The Kremlin group Rosatom is directly involved in this by occupying the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia,” says Udo Buchholz from the Federal Association of Citizens’ Initiatives for Environmental Protection. “In Lingen, the energy mistakes of the past are simply being repeated, from one dependency to the next.” In a joint statement from alliances, initiatives and associations, Buchholz “urgently calls for a political veto from Hanover and Berlin”.
Opponents of nuclear power fear new uranium deliveries from Russia
The anti-nuclear activists fear a uranium transport to Lingen at the weekend or early next week. A Russian uranium ship is on its way to Rotterdam, it said. For April 15, the regional groups have announced a rally in front of the fuel element factory and a subsequent demonstration at the neighboring Lingen nuclear power plant.
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