The German state of Lower Saxony plans to produce fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants in cooperation with experts from Russiaʼs “Rosatom”. The German stateʼs Ministry of the Environment has issued a permit for such cooperation to the plant in the city of Lingen.
Euronews writes about this.
The fuel assemblies are planned to be produced at the Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF) enterprise. The Federal Ministry for the Environment has explained that it is critical of such cooperation. It believes that "the appropriate instrument to respond to this is pan-European sanctions, which should also be extended to the nuclear sector".
The media also explained that the project at the enterprise is related to hexagonal fuel assemblies, which are used only in Soviet-designed nuclear power plants. Such nuclear power plants operate in several Eastern European countries and in Finland. This is probably why the EU has not yet imposed sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry, the journalists believe.
According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment, the decision to cooperate was approved after “thorough checks”. It is opposed by public initiatives and environmental organizations, since the production of the fuel requires the participation of Russian experts. However, the German department emphasized that in the event of additional risks, the cooperation will be reviewed.
- The German city of Lingen, located near the border with the Netherlands, has been producing fuel assemblies since 1979. Since 2002, the city has operated a temporary storage facility for spent fuel assemblies, which have been placed in Castor containers and will be stored there until a decision is made on where to move them permanently.
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