Greenpeace says French uranium being sent to Russia

"The Greenpeace environment group said on Sunday that France was sending reprocessed uranium to Russia for treatment so it can be reused, despite the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. The group argued that while it was legal, the trade was "immoral" as many nations seek to step up sanctions on the Russian government over its invasion launched in 2022. Greenpeace members on Saturday filmed the loading of about 10 containers with radioactive labels onto a cargo ship in the Channel port of Dunkirk, the NGO said."

"French state-controlled energy giant Electricite de France (EDF) signed a €600-million-euro deal in 2018 with a Rosatom subsidiary, Tenex, for the recycling of reprocessed uranium. These operations have not been affected by international sanctions over the Ukraine war. Rosatom has the only facility in the world - at Seversk in Siberia - capable of carrying out key parts of the conversion of reprocessed uranium to enriched reprocessed uranium. Uranium can be reprocessed so it can be reenriched and reused."

France is sending reprocessed uranium to Russia for treatment so it can be reenriched and reused despite Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. About ten containers with radioactive labels were loaded onto the Panamanian-registered cargo ship Mikhail Dudin in the Channel port of Dunkirk; the ship regularly carries enriched or natural uranium from France to St Petersburg. A 2018 €600-million deal between Electricite de France (EDF) and Rosatom subsidiary Tenex covers recycling of reprocessed uranium, and these operations remain outside international sanctions tied to the Ukraine war. Rosatom's Seversk facility in Siberia is the only plant capable of key conversion steps, and only about ten percent of the reenriched uranium returned to France is used at Cruas, the sole French plant able to use enriched reprocessed uranium.

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