Greenpeace condemns uranium supplies to France from Russia

Greenpeace denounced this Monday the delivery to France of a shipment of enriched uranium from Russia, a situation that the environmental group says shows France’s dependence on Russia’s nuclear industry.

On Monday morning, a cargo ship unloaded several containers of uranium from Russia at the port of Dunkirk, according to a journalist for the French news agency AFP, who was notified of the operation by Greenpeace.

“This is another proof that the French nuclear industry continues to trade uranium with Rosatom. [empresa estatal russa para o desenvolvimento de energia nuclear]”said Pauline Boyer, Greenpeace expert on nuclear power and the energy transition.

“To continue this nuclear trade with Russia during the war is outrageous,” Boyer criticized, referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

The report from the environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) states that on Monday morning in the French port of Dunkirk, the Russian cargo ship Baltic 202, en route from St. Petersburg, unloaded “25 cylindrical containers of Russian enriched uranium for the French group Orano. (former Areva)”.

According to the NGO, these containers were “loaded onto a dozen trucks bound” for the Pierrelatte plant in the Drôme district, representing the seventh shipment of uranium from Russia to France since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. .

In a March 11 report, Greenpeace had already denounced France’s “links of dependence” on Russian nuclear energy, a sector not subject to international sanctions.

The NGO recalled that France received from Russia “a third of the enriched uranium necessary for the operation of French nuclear power plants for one year.”

In a recent statement, the French government denied the claims, ensuring that “the country is in no way dependent on Russia for the operation of its nuclear power plants” and claiming that the energy authorities have succeeded in “diversifying their sources of supply.” .