Authorities in the German state of Lower Saxony have granted a license to the Advanced Nuclear Fuels GmbH (ANF) plant in Lingen to produce nuclear fuel using technology from the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom's subsidiary TVEL. The permit was issued on behalf of the federal government, according to a statement on the website of the regional environment ministry.
ANF, a subsidiary of the French state-owned company Framatome, plans to jointly produce hexagonal fuel assemblies (TVS) for Soviet-designed VVER water-water power reactors operating at nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe — in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Finland.
The application to expand production was submitted by ANF in March 2022, weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The decision to issue the permit was based on a conclusion by the federal government, prepared with input from the environment and interior ministries as well as the chancellery.
The permit comes with several conditions. Rosatom employees are allowed access to the workshops "only in exceptional cases and under escort." Russian machinery and software must be thoroughly inspected and isolated from the plant's IT infrastructure. External security checks of equipment and fuel elements coming from Russia are also required to reduce risks associated with possible sabotage.
Lower Saxony's environment minister, Christian Meyer of the Green Party, said he considers cooperation with Rosatom fundamentally wrong but noted that in the absence of European Union sanctions against the Russian state corporation, authorities had no legal grounds to refuse. According to him, Ukraine warns against cooperating with Rosatom, which is accused of war crimes. The federal government also stated that the appropriate tool to address the issue is not nuclear legislation but EU-wide sanctions, which most EU countries have not yet supported.
Environmental organizations condemned the decision. As Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the group Ekozaschita!, told The Insider, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Finland are heavily dependent on Russian technology, as is France, which, he said, has never stopped cooperating with Rosatom. Green expert Harald Ebner said the federal government had a legal instrument to keep Rosatom out of Lower Saxony. Representatives of the Christian Democratic Union also criticized the project. An online petition titled "No nuclear deal with Putin" has garnered over 125,000 signatures.
Framatome welcomed the decision, saying it "strengthens Europe's energy security and supports industrial sovereignty." The company described the cooperation as an interim step that will help customers operating Russian-designed reactors diversify their fuel sources until Framatome develops its own technologies.