Europe urged to ‘disconnect’ from Russian uranium in nuclear projects
Reliance on uranium to fuel nuclear development must be curbed to prevent funding Russia’s war machine, an EU leader has said.
Speaking to the Financial Times at the inaugural International Atomic Energy Agency summit in Brussels last week, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander de Croo said that his country has taken a “180 degree pivot” in its attitude to nuclear power to try and accelerate the reduction of its emissions and cut ties with Russia.
“Changing supply chains especially for nuclear is complicated but we need to do it as fast as possible . . . we need to disconnect from Russian nuclear fuel but you need to make sure you can still produce zero emission electricity,” he said.
However the president of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the goal was not about Russia or its influence.
“Let’s make sure this is not about using nuclear energy as a pawn,” he told the summit.
“I would warn against this point of good nuclear against bad nuclear, it’s not conducive to what we need to have in the global energy market.”
The conference comes just under two months since the UK government launched its long-awaited nuclear energy road map, which included ambitions for a new mega reactor, equivalent in size to the delayed projects of Size well and Hinkley Point C.
The same announcement separated the UK as the first European country to unveil a dedicated £300m tranche to produce uranium-rich fuel.
Energy secretary Claire Coutinho said at the time that the government “would not let Putin hold the UK to ransom on nuclear fuel” as he had done for oil and gas.
Up to £26m is also being invested to bring uranium conversion services, a process that Russia historically dominates the market in, back to the UK.
The renewed push on global nuclear development picked up significant momentum at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai last year, where 25 countries including the US and UK signed a pledge to triple nuclear power by 2050.