On November 27, in the “Studio N8” program of the pro-Kremlin TV “Obieqtivi,” the guest, politician Jondi Baghaturia, said that the European Union lost energy sources due to the conflict with Russia. Baghaturia specified that the French economy is based on nuclear power plants, for which they used to buy uranium from Russia and Niger; however, due to the conflict with Russia, the French lost both sources.
The claims voiced by Jondi Bagaturia are false: 1. France buys various nuclear products from Russia, including enriched uranium, although this trade activity continues to this day; 2. Niger has not stopped exporting uranium to France;
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Trade in nuclear materials between Russia and France has not stopped
France needs about 8 tons of natural uranium per year to operate its nuclear power plants. As of 2022, France bought natural uranium from 5 countries: Kazakhstan, Niger, Namibia, Uzbekistan and Australia – a total of more than 7,000 tons.
According to a document published by Greenpeace in March, most of the uranium imported from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is controlled by the Russian giant Rosatom, which is why France is actually more dependent on Russian uranium than official figures show. In addition, in 2022, Russia supplied a third of the amount of enriched uranium required for the operation of nuclear power plants – 312 tons, when in 2021 this figure amounted to 110 tons.
In response to the document, the French Energy Transition Minister’s Office stated that the operation of France’s nuclear energy infrastructure is in no way dependent on Russia. They specified that the country does not buy uranium mined in Russia, the scope of their relations with Russia in this field is modest and limited to natural uranium enrichment, conversion, and re-enrichment of processed uranium.
When it comes to the Russian-French trade relations in the nuclear field, Russia mostly re-enriches and exports back the used/reprocessed and depleted uranium to France. The process, which is a cheaper alternative to naturally enriched uranium, was halted between the two countries in 2010 after protests but resumed in 2021.
Notably, even against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in 2022 France increased its purchase of nuclear products from Russia, spending a total of 359 million EUR, which is half of the entire EU purchase of these products from Russia.
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Reports of the cessation of uranium exports by Niger are false
After the military coup in Niger in July 2023, there were reports that the African country would stop exporting uranium, which would not be favorable for France, since 20-30% of the country’s uranium imports in recent years came from Niger. Despite these dangers, according to the latest information, Niger has not stopped exporting uranium.
According to the data of 2022, about 5% of the world’s uranium production comes from Niger, and according to this indicator, it takes the seventh place, and Russia, with about 5.5%, takes the sixth place. As for the first five, the leader is Kazakhstan with about 45%, and the rest of the list is as follows: 2) Canada; 3) Namibia; 4) Australia; 5) Uzbekistan.
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