Germany Approves Controversial French-Russian Nuclear Fuel Initiative

German authorities announced on Wednesday that they have approved a controversial French‑Russian nuclear project, which critics warn could facilitate espionage and sabotage by Moscow.

The joint venture, formed by a subsidiary of French nuclear firm Framatome and Russia’s state‑owned Rosatom, aims to manufacture fuel rods for reactors of Russian design.

The facility will be located at Framatome’s fuel‑rod assembly plant in Lingen, Lower Saxony.

ANF (Advanced Nuclear Fuels), Framatome’s subsidiary, submitted the application in March 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full‑scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement released Wednesday, the state’s environment ministry said it had “decided to approve” the project.

This decision comes despite Environment Minister Christian Meyer reiterating that “dealings and close cooperation with Putin’s nuclear agency are totally wrong.”

Meyer added, however, that his ministry lacks the legal authority to deny or impose a time limit on the application as long as Rosatom remains unsanctioned.

Rosatom has been excluded from the successive EU sanctions leveled against Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

‘Dangerous to security’

Meyer noted that one condition of the approval is that Rosatom employees, or staff from Russian nuclear fuel maker TVEL, may enter the site only in very limited circumstances and must be accompanied by the appropriate inspectorate.

The ministry also said the approval could be revisited should new risks emerge, especially concerning national security.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centre‑right CDU party, urged the federal government to intervene and halt the project.

He told Politico that the Lower Saxony decision is “dangerous to security and must be reversed.”

The Greens have also been vocal opponents, arguing that the scheme could enable Moscow to gather intelligence on highly sensitive nuclear installations on German soil.

Germany shut down its last nuclear power plant in 2023.

Germany accuses Russia of spreading false information

As Ukraine’s largest supporter in its resistance to Russia’s full‑scale invasion, Germany remains on high alert for signs of “hybrid warfare” orchestrated by Moscow.

Also on Wednesday, Germany denied online claims that it was conducting nuclear‑weapons research, dismissing them as Russian propaganda intended to discredit Berlin’s backing of Kyiv.

A government spokesperson said, “The German Government regards these statements as part of the usual Russian propaganda. The allegations are unfounded … it is an attempt to discredit Germany as Ukraine’s strongest supporter.”

Several European nations that once lay within the Soviet sphere, together with Finland, still operate Soviet‑era reactors and require the type of fuel that the Lingen project would produce.

Russia also controls a substantial portion of the global uranium market through its domestic reserves and interests in former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

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