Greenpeace France Photographs Uranium Loaded on Ship for Export to Russia

Greenpeace is calling for an end to the uranium trade between France and Russia after reporting that it has resumed after a nearly three-year hiatus. The group released pictures of containers with spent uranium being loaded onto a cargo ship in the port of Dunkirk and bound for Russia.

At least 10 containers of uranium, clearly marked with dangerous cargo symbols, were observed arriving in the port of Dunkirk, France, on Saturday, November 15, and being loaded aboard the cargo ship Mikhail Dudin (3,030 dwt). Built in 1996, the general cargo ship is owned by a company based in Hong Kong and operates under the Panama flag. The vessel departed France midday on Saturday and reports its destination as Ust-Luga, Russia, a run that Greenpeace says it regularly makes carrying enriched or natural uranium.

France, according to Greenpeace, is dependent on Russia to take its uranium that was spent and reprocessed, as Russia has the only plant in the world that carries out the operation of converting the reprocessed uranium. It undergoes conversion and re-enrichment, with 10 percent sent back to France according to Greenpeace. They report that France’s EDF plans to use reprocessed uranium at its 1300 MWe reactors. Between 1994 and 2013, they report 600 tonnes were used in the four reactors of Cruas-Meysse.

Greenpeace says it protested the shipments in 2022, leading the French government in September 2022 to halt the trade. It had only been resumed in 2021 after previously being halted in 2010. Orano, which supports the nuclear industry, EDF, and Rosatom, are reported to participate in the trade, which sees reprocessed material sent to Russia and a portion returned for re-use in France.

“Emmanuel Macron repeatedly states the need to develop our economic, technological, industrial, and financial independence, particularly from Russia, which he describes as a threat to France and Europe,” said Pauline Boyer, nuclear campaign manager for Greenpeace France. The group points out, however, that the resumption of URT shipments to Russia represents a “disconnect between the French President’s words and actions.”

They are calling for France to report the quantity of reprocessed uranium exported to Russia since 2022, as well as intervening to stop the exports. They are demanding a termination of all import and export contracts.

Greenpeace believe that France has quietly continued the trade because it has massive stockpiles, approximately 35,000 tonnes of reprocessed uranium in warehouses. They believe the underlying objective is to dispose of cumbersome stockpiles of radioactive waste, noting that 90 percent becomes stored waste.

Greenpeace believes that among the future sanctions being discussed for Russia’s energy trade would include blocks on Rosatom’s nuclear trade. It says they are being considered in addition to the continuing blocks on Russian gas and oil. However, they want France to move more aggressively to end the trade immediately.