Brussels took legal measures to put a complete stop for imports Russian fossil fuels in the European Union this week.
But it has delayed plans to remove Russian nuclear technology.
Since Moscow Full scale invasion on UkraineEuropean Union countries have paid more than € 200bn to Russia for fuel. According to the think-tank Brugel, coal and oil imports have been approved and gas should be phased by 2027. Russia is responsible for Russia paid to Russia in 2024 in nuclear fuel. But officials have warned that the risk for the European Union’s energy security is huge if Moscow suddenly cut the supply.
Russian Nuclear Import is far more complex.
“Technically the uranium supply chain is very complex”, Ben McWilliams, Ben McVilliams said, Ben McVilliums said, “Climate and energy affiliates in energy.” Therefore a gradual phase will be required, he said.
European Union There are 101 atomic reactors, 19 of which are Soviet “Vver” designs. The block depends on Russia about 20–25 percent of natural, converted and rich uranium. Reactor in the European Union often buy in Russian spare parts or require maintenance expertise.
The European Commission would ideally want to free the European nuclear region from Russian imports by the 2030s, the European Union officials have said. But in a document published on Friday warned that € 241BN investment was required for the construction of the domestic nuclear supply chain.
The European Union ministers will discuss nuclear investment in a meeting on Monday.
The step to phase Russian imports is in line with efforts in other Western countries. Canada has banned all Russian uranium imports and UK has imposed 35 percent tariffs on Russian rich uranium. The US had passed a law to prevent Russian uranium imports since 2028 last May. In April 2023, G7 countries agreed to develop nuclear capability to move away from Russian fuel.
But dominance in the field of Russia is a serious challenge. ,[Russian state nuclear company] Rosatom is one of the largest companies in all areas of nuclear markets, ”said Dimitri Gorachkov, nuclear advisor to non-governmental organization Belona.
This step coincides with the Renaissance in interest in nuclear power in Europe, which puts pressure on the supply chains, to reach the climate goals.
Phaseout plans face strong opposition from Hungary and Slovakia, which are two of the five member states with VVR reactors, along with Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Finland.
In a joint statement, ministers of Hungary and Slovakia for the European Union affairs said that the 2030s phased ambition will give rise to “high and more unstable prices” and would be threatened to protect their energy supply.
Officials in Brussels say that with a slow phased, the fuel jumps into prices in the cycle.
The European Union has been working on diversifying uranium sources in countries such as Kazakhstan, Canada and Niger since 2022.
But volatility in the world’s seventh largest uranium manufacturer Niger has raised some concerns about import protection and competition from other players among European Union officials.
A more disturbing is a more easily-handed gas mining is the conversion of uranium, relatively low-margins and dirty businesses that are happy to outsource European Union countries.
European Union officials said the challenge would create an European Union conversion industry that may compete with Rosatom’s heavy prices. Investment in conversion capabilities was “backward”, Friday’s document said.
Russia also dominates 55 percent of the global enrichment market, the next step after conversion that increases the number of reactive uranium -235 isotopes.
Orano and Uranco, with two European companies, with Russians and Chinese, form about 40 percent of the global enrichment capacity.
Oranco’s CEO Boris Shuch said that the company had already started to resume the existing promotion Centrifuse in the European Union, which was “not” to meet the originally increased demand.
He is most concerned about the circumference of any possible business measures. “We can already see here and there Russia is selling volumes to China and China, selling volumes which will not be available in the rest of the world,” he said.
The remaining parts and knowledge of the remaining Soviet reactors, of which went into use in 1977 as soon as possible, is another problem. The creation of skills and confidence among small businesses such as welders or pipe manufacturers to produce for the nuclear area with its steep security requirements is a long process.
The largest “elephant in the room”, McWilliams of Brugel said, “100 km south of Budapest had Hungary plants in Pakistan.”
Hungary has long doubled on Russian nuclear technology, to construct two new Rosettom-designed power blocks in 2014, to double the capacity of the 1980s four-union nuclear plant in Pakistan. Both plants together need three-fourths of the power needs of the country.
Despite the pressure of the European Union and interaction with the French and American suppliers, Hungary has so far attempted a switch away from Russian nuclear fuels and parts. European Union officials say this is the most sensitive issue, especially Hungary’s supporters of Russia.
The Commission has indicated that it will use business measures to phase the Russian nuclear supply. These will only require a weighty majority of member states that instead of approval rather than sanctions, which require unanimous approval and risk by Hungary and Slovakia.
Sama Bilbao Y Leone, Director General of the World Nuclear Association, said that the revenue raised from the tariff should be fun into the industry as an incentive to build the supply chain.
Frédéric Lallyèvre, a senior executive vice-president of Framatome, a subsidiary of the state-controlled power utility EDF, said at a conference last week that Europe should speed up its domestic industry: “We should be with these features and IP. [intellectual property] In Europe, to ensure that we can deploy programs we want to deploy and do not trust anyone else. ,
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