French Framatome Expands Production With Russia’s Rosatom
French-owned nuclear company Framatome signed a contract with Rosatom to co-produce nuclear fuel for water-water energetic reactors (WWER or VVER), Olena Lapenko from think tank DiXi Group told Kyiv Post in an interview.
Framatome is executing a scale-up to produce nuclear fuel as part of joint venture with Rosatom, the State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia. The fuel will be produced in a Framatome-owned factory in Lingen, Germany.
A total of 19 VVER reactors are already located around Europe which makes this easier – a legacy from Soviet times.
The project is almost ready for launch as Germany imports fuel from Russia for the plant.
In Lingen, Framatome will establish the same nuclear fuel production technology that Rosatom used on its “Electrostal” production plant. But radiation at Electostal is above normal levels, which Lapenko fears might cause problems.
DiXi Group collected statements from Russian activists that the radiation level of nuclear facilities about to procure fuel are “many times above normal levels.” It cannot be fact checked with the official data since Russia turned off the sensors sending radiation data to open maps, according to Lapenko.
“Framatome said they won’t have high radiation because their management is more professional and it’s not about poor-quality technology. It makes sense, but are you really ready to see technologies that make radiation levels spike?” Lapenko explained to Kyiv Post.
She fears it may risk a nuclear facility accident.
Nevertheless, Germany is increasing uranium imports to launch the Lingen plant.
The last step needed is a green light from the local government in Lower Saxony – the German state where the factory resides. And a green light from the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament.
The final decision will be made this year after the Lower Saxony government processes the results of a public hearing which took place on Nov. 20, 2024, concerning the possibility of issuing a permit for the plant’s expansion.
This is not the only Rosatom project posing a threat to nuclear global security – the state-owned giant operates around the world and the Kremlin has used gas to conduct energy wars with Ukraine and the EU before.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and involvement of Rosatom’s employees in occupying Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), it remains unknown whether Russia will use its nuclear energy as a weapon against the rest of the world, beyond just Ukraine.
How Rosatom operates
Rosatom has grown in size, pioneering new industries, countries and projects, as well as creating companies supplying Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
Its employees started operating on the ZNPP, captured by Russia early in the full-scale invasion, in March 2022.
War crimes watchdog Truth Hounds previously called ZNPP “а torture chamber” in their report – approximately 1,000 individuals have been detained and tortured or mistreated in the network of torture chambers in Enerhodar, the city originally created by the former Soviet regime to maintain the plant.
Truth Hounds spoke to witnesses who reported that people were tortured to death, survived the use of electric shocks, strangulation and more. They were forced to dig their own graves, detained in overcrowded small cells without access to food, water, fresh air or sanitation.
“Apart from ZNPP, Rosatom is involved in supplying electricity to Ukraine’s occupied territories,” Lapenko said.
Rosatom acts as an umbrella for numerous organizations that form divisions producing nuclear fuel, reactors, electricity, nuclear ammunition, equipment for the nuclear industry, and chemical products, DiXi Group reported.
The “umbrella” method is used to help Russia avoid sanctions. Approximately 4% of companies within the Rosatom structure fall under sanctions, Lapenko told Kyiv Post. Some of these legal entities can call themselves research institutes but import dual-use components for the military, she added.
“Rosatom constructs wind power plants, floating nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMR), and operates in related industries such as nuclear medicine, the development of new technologies, and digitalization,” Lapenko explained.
Rosatom also owns an atomic icebreaking fleet. The official website says it consists of three ships, while Russia’s Ministry of Transport states about seven ships.
That adds up to 68 other non-atomic Russian ice-breaking ships, which may explain why US President Donald Trump announced construction of 40 new ships for the new US icebreaker fleet. The US now has only two, according to an article by the US Department of Defense.
Fueling its lobbyism
Rosatom’s international portfolio includes 34 power units in 11 countries, with involvement in nuclear power plants in Hungary, China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt, and Vietnam, according to DiXi Group analysts.
In Bangladesh, Egypt, and Hungary, nuclear power plants are being built with Russian state loans, which indicates that Rosatom is not a truly separate enterprise, but one of the Kremlin’s political instruments, DiXi Group team reported.
Sustaining VVER reactors – like the ones Framatome and Rosatom want to produce fuel for – is a tool to keep its presence in Europe.
“On one hand, countries diversify their electricity supply and use cheap financing from Russia to construct these NPPs. But they form a dependence for decades, 50-60 years, and then they extend the operating life of these reactors. And that’s why there is such expansion,” Lapenko said.
Lapenko fears it creates grounds for nuclear blackmail in the future.
“First you get concessional Russian financing for decades, and everyone’s wondering why some countries weirdly vote in the UN. Their key competitive advantage is low price – Soviet technologies are cheaper than American and French ones,” she said.
Source: Olena Hrazhdan