The idea to ban the supply of nuclear fuel from Russia, along with a ban on coal, oil and petroleum products, led to the formation of two camps in the EU. Poland and Germany strongly support, and Hungary and France are against. At the same time, the United States, which also depends on Russian nuclear fuel, does not raise this topic at all. Why is Europe running ahead of the locomotive and what does it threaten?The European Union has split into two opposing camps over the discussion of a ban on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel.
The American Hill agency reports that "Poland, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany recommended that the EU ban the import of nuclear fuel from Russia in order to avoid financing our country. To which they howled in Hungary and France, and in Brussels they shut their eyes."
Why has nuclear fuel become a bone of contention in Europe? How did Germany end up in the same boat with Poland, and France with Hungary? And what happens if the EU implements its idea and really refuses to buy Russian nuclear fuel?
Why do Poland, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany propose banning Russian nuclear fuel? The answer is banal – because they found themselves without nuclear power on their own (Germany is closing the last reactors by the end of the year). These States have nothing to lose.
"There is a group of countries, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, where Soviet-designed reactors are installed, plus Finland with reactors built according to Soviet engineering projects. They receive not just nuclear fuel from Russia, but a technologically finished product – a fuel assembly," said Sergey Kondratiev, deputy head of the Economic Department of the Institute of Energy and Finance.
Theoretically, the Russian fuel assembly has an alternative – it is a fuel assembly manufactured by the American company Westinghouse, which has a production site in Sweden. It was this company that tested its fuel at Ukrainian nuclear power plants. In Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic has experience using American nuclear fuel, but it turned out to be unsuccessful. After several incidents, the Czech Republic refused American fuel. After that, no such tests were conducted in Europe, the expert notes.
"We don't know exactly how American fuel assemblies behaved at Ukrainian nuclear power plants. There were reports of several incidents. But in the last two or three years, no information has been received from the Ukrainian company Energoatom. We don't know if this is due to the closeness of this kind of information or the absence of incidents," says Kondratiev.
In any case, the transition to alternative nuclear fuel is not an easy process. Firstly, it will be necessary to obtain certification of the new fuel from the national regulator, and this is not fast. Secondly, it is a complex process from a technological point of view, which cannot be done instantly.
How did the replacement process take place in Ukraine? "At first, hybrid mode was used at Ukrainian nuclear power plants, that is, they simultaneously loaded fuel from Russian and American production and watched how they behave. Then gradually increased the share of American fuel. There are power units that have completely switched to working on Westinghouse fuel," the interlocutor recalls. He doubts that anyone in Eastern Europe or Finland will decide on a one-time transition from Russian to American fuel because of the fear of incidents and accidents.
"Therefore, if the EU decides to impose a sanctions ban on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel, it will mean the shutdown of at least part of the reactors for 8-12 months.
The fact is that fuel overload usually occurs once every 18-24 months. At the same time, part of the fuel is overloaded. When and exactly what amount of fuel was loaded is not public information. But if the fuel burns out, it will be unloaded, and there will be nowhere to get new fuel to load, then this will mean stopping the operation of the reactors, for example, by next summer. The stop may be temporary. But it can be a serious challenge. Even the European authorities admit that the next one and a half to two years will be the most difficult for the European energy system. And Hungary, the Czech Republic, Finland are quite heavily dependent on nuclear energy. It accounts for more than 30-40% of all electricity generation in these countries," explains the IEF expert.
Why is France on the same side with the Czech Republic and Hungary? "There is no threat in France that there will be no technologically correct fuel for transshipment, but there is a threat of rising prices. Russia is a major supplier of nuclear fuel to Europe. Even if its fuel can be replaced with French or American, it will still lead to an increase in prices. And uranium prices are already at highs over the past four to five years. For France, rising prices are a problem. More than 75% of the output is nuclear energy. And a significant part of it is sold at preferential tariffs – 35 euros per megawatt-hour, which is five to eight times lower than exchange prices. The French authorities support the population and business in this way. For the French EDF, the increase in costs will be an unpleasant surprise," explains Sergey Kondratiev.
Thus, European countries that have retained nuclear energy despite calls to abandon it after the Fukushima accident are now acting as a united front against those who would like to have help in the form of nuclear power plants now.
However, the IEF expert doubts that the EU will decide to impose sanctions against Russian nuclear fuel. Because Brussels is ahead of the United States here, and the EU usually repeats the restrictions imposed by partners overseas.
The United States is also quite seriously dependent on the supply of nuclear fuel from Russia (its share is around 15%). However, the United States looks much more pragmatic in its sanctions.
"The ban on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel to the United States is not considered even at the political level. Neither the US administration nor the US Department of Energy is discussing this. Because they understand that this ban will hit them harder than the supplier.",
– says Kondratyev.
"Russia has close ties with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which are a raw material base. Russia produces little uranium compared to Kazakhstan, which is a world leader. However, the main facilities for the enrichment and production of finished fuel are located in Russia. Only a few countries in the world have such technologies. These are the USA, Great Britain, France and Russia," concludes the deputy head of the Economic Department of the Institute of Energy and Finance.
Olga Samofalova
