The European Union will present a plan to completely phase out all fossil fuels from Russia this week. However, plans to phase out Russian nuclear energy are being shelved.
The Financial Times writes about this.
In 2024, the European Union countries paid Russia €22 billion for various types of fuel. Of that, only €700 million was for nuclear fuel. However, experts have found that it is this dependence that is extremely difficult to get rid of, as a sudden cessation of supplies would create a huge risk to the EUʼs energy security.
From a technical point of view, the uranium supply chain is very complex. Therefore, a gradual phase-out is necessary.
The European Union currently operates 101 nuclear reactors, 19 of which are of Soviet design. These reactors often use Russian spare parts. In addition, the bloc is approximately 20-25% dependent on Russia for supplies of natural, converted and enriched uranium.
In the long term, the European Commission aims for the EU nuclear industry to become fully independent from Russian supplies by the 2030s. However, €241 billion in investment is needed to develop the domestic nuclear supply chain.
The gradual abandonment of Russian imports is in line with measures taken by other Western countries. In April 2023, the G7 countries agreed to develop nuclear capacity to abandon Russian fuel. Canada has already banned all uranium imports from Russia, and the United Kingdom has imposed a 35% tariff on Russian enriched uranium. Last year, the United States passed a law to stop importing Russian uranium from 2028. However, Russiaʼs dominance in this sector poses a serious problem
The idea of completely abandoning Russian nuclear fuel is classically blocked by Hungary and Slovakia, two of the five EU member states that have Soviet-style VVER reactors (along with the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Finland). The EU ministers of Hungary and Slovakia have noted that abandoning Russian resources would lead to “higher and more unstable prices” and pose a threat to their countries’ energy security.
However, Brussels officials say that with a slow and gradual reduction in the share of Russian energy resources, price spikes throughout the fuel cycle can be avoided.
The EU has been working to diversify its uranium sources since 2022, including through Kazakhstan, Canada and Niger. However, instability in Niger, the worldʼs seventh largest uranium producer, has raised concerns in the EU about the reliability of supplies and competition from other players.
- In May 2025, the European Commission unveiled a plan to completely phase out Russian energy sources. The new strategy involves phasing out Russian oil, gas, and nuclear energy, replacing them with safer sources.
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