To convert its reprocessed uranium (URT), France has no other option than to carry out this step in Russia, the only country to have, via its public operator Rosatom, a conversion plant.
(AFP / OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE)
France could build a conversion and enrichment site for reprocessed uranium intended to be integrated into nuclear power plants. Russia is the only one to currently have such a site.
“The option of carrying out an industrial project for the conversion of reprocessed (or recycled, Editor’s note) uranium in France
is seriously examined, under the aegis of the nuclear policy council
“, indicated Thursday evening to the
AFP
the Ministry of Industry and Energy.
The ministry confirmed statements to the newspaper
The world
in an article devoted to France’s trade with the Russian nuclear industry, a sector which, unlike oil, still escapes international sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. “The associated conditions are still under study,” the ministry said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 highlighted for France and other countries like the United States the need to
depend less on the Russian juggernaut Rosatom for the fuel cycle of nuclear power plants
. In this case, to convert its reprocessed uranium (URT), France has no other option than to carry out this step in Russia, the only country to have, via its public operator Rosatom, a conversion plant. for this URT. The next stage of enrichment can be carried out in Russia or the Netherlands.
“Contractual commitments” with Russia
The environmental NGO
Greenpeace has denounced in recent months the continuation of uranium deliveries between Russia and France
, notably for the benefit of EDF power stations, despite the war. EDF is in fact linked to a 600 million euro contract concluded in 2018 with Tenex, a subsidiary of Rosatom, to recycle and enrich uranium from the reprocessing of spent fuel from the French group. EDF has always argued that it respected its “contractual commitments” with Tenex while “strictly applying all international sanctions” and trade restrictions vis-à-vis Russia.
Asked about this contract, during a congress of the French nuclear energy company (SFEN), Thursday, Jean-Michel Quilichini, director of the nuclear fuel division at EDF, explained to Le Monde that EDF would continue to “honor the CONTRACT”. Contacted by
AFP
the group emphasizes that it
“maximizes the diversification of its geographic sources and suppliers”
without however specifying the share of its enriched URT supplies coming from Russia.
The option of building an enrichment and conversion site for recycled uranium had already been mentioned by the government in November in its “French strategy for energy and climate” (SFEC) document, in which it spoke of the implementation of “a European industrial sector”.
For its part, EDF asserts
AFP
discuss “with several partners to build a uranium reprocessing conversion plant in Western Europe by 2030”.
From fuel processing, URT can be reused to produce new fuel after being converted and then re-enriched. On February 5, 2024, for the first time in ten years, a reactor at the Cruas power plant (Ardèche) was restarted with
“the first fully recycled uranium refill”
announced EDF on the social network LinkedIn.