PARIS, March 29, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The French government has said it is

"seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich
reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of
Ukraine.

The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for
use in nuclear power plants is located in Russia.

"The option of carrying out an industrial project to convert reprocessed
uranium in France is being seriously examined," the French industry and
energy ministry told AFP on Thursday evening.

"The associated conditions are still being studied," said the ministry.

The announcement came after French daily Le Monde said that state-owned power
utility EDF had no immediate plans to halt uranium trade with Russia, while
Moscow's war against Ukraine stretches into its third year.

According to the newspaper, Jean-Michel Quilichini, head of the nuclear fuel
division at EDF, said the company planned to continue to "honour" its 2018
contract with Tenex, a subsidiary of Russia's state nuclear power company
Rosatom.

The contract stipulates that reprocessed uranium from French nuclear power
plants is to be sent to a facility in the town of Seversk (formerly Tomsk-7)
in western Siberia to be converted and then re-enriched before being reused
in nuclear plants.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February
2022, the West has slapped multiple rounds of sanctions on Moscow but
Russia's nuclear power has remained largely unscathed.

Contacted by AFP, EDF said that it was "maximising the diversification of its
geographical sources and suppliers", without however specifying the
proportion of its enriched reprocessed uranium supplies that comes from
Russia.

EDF also said it and several partners were discussing "the construction of a
reprocessed uranium conversion plant in Western Europe by 2030".

Environment and climate NGO Greenpeace has condemned the continuing uranium
trade between Russia and France despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"The fact that the French nuclear industry has never invested in the
construction of such a facility on French soil indicates a lack of interest
in a tedious and unprofitable industrial process," Greenpeace said in a
report in 2021.

It accused France of using Siberia "as a garbage dump for the French nuclear
industry".

In recent years France has been seeking to resuscitate its domestic uranium
reprocessing industry.

In early February, a reactor at the Cruas nuclear power station in
southeastern France was restarted using its first recycled uranium fuel load,
EDF said at the time.