Western Nuclear Industry Faces a Russian Challenge

Western nations, led by France's Orano, are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian nuclear fuel, but face significant challenges including technological hurdles, financial constraints, and geopolitical complexities.

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Joseph P Chacko
Joseph P Chacko
Joseph P. Chacko is the publisher of Frontier India. He holds an M.B.A in International Business. Books: Author: Foxtrot to Arihant: The Story of Indian Navy's Submarine Arm; Co Author : Warring Navies - India and Pakistan. *views are Personal

To reduce their dependence on Russian nuclear fuel supplies, Western nations will require additional sanctions and incentives against Russia, according to Orano, a French company that is one of the top Western suppliers of enriched uranium.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Orano CEO Nicolas Maes stated that in order to wholly disengage from Russia, new capacities are required. Industrial groups will only invest if they have long-term contracts.

Russia’s primary Western competitors in the nuclear energy sector are the French company Orano and the Urenco consortium, established in 1970 by the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy company, has substantial influence in this sector.

Europe has not sanctioned Rosatom or Russian nuclear fuel supplies, even though Russian companies built dozens of nuclear power facilities in Eastern EU countries and supplied them with nuclear fuel.

The United States is exerting pressure on many nations to decrease their dependence on enriched uranium from Russia as they increasingly use nuclear energy to reduce emissions and dependence on oil and gas imports.

Nevertheless, Orano’s CEO stated to the Financial Times that Western contractors and suppliers require an understanding of long-term demand in order to reduce their reliance on Russia.

He also argued in favor of sanctions against Russia’s nuclear sector, claiming that certain electricity producers would continue to source from Russia for an extended period if sanctions were not in place.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) asserts that Russia continues to be the dominant international supplier of nuclear power plants” and is also involved in the production of fuel assemblies for Soviet-designed pressurized water reactors, of which there are 19 in the EU. Additionally, Russia is a key player in fuel services, including uranium mining and processing. The report cautions that Western nations’ efforts to reduce or remove their dependence on Russia for natural uranium supplies will result in increased global prices.

The United States implemented regulations on August 12 that forbade the importation of non-irradiated low-enriched uranium, produced in Russia or by Russian companies. However, this prohibition does not prevent the US Department of Energy from purchasing this product if there is no viable alternative source of low-enriched uranium available.

The loss of expertise in nuclear energy is a critical challenge for Western nuclear companies, as both Nicolas Maes and the authors of the WNISR report have emphasized.

Orano (formerly Areva) is a French multinational company that is a global leader in the production of nuclear fuel. The company faced significant financial and reputational challenges, which resulted in insolvency and restructuring in 2016 when its net debt exceeded €7 billion, despite its strong position in uranium mining and enrichment.

Corruption schemes that involved the sale of Nigerian uranium through a network of intermediaries and the subsequent repurchase of the same at a significantly higher price contributed to Areva’s financial failure.

Areva discovered overspending and the cover-up of technical flaws during the construction of the Flamanville (France) and Olkiluoto (Finland) nuclear power facilities. Areva, having acquired the Imouraren mine in Niger in 2007 for $2.5 billion, also failed to activate it.

Japan’s Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries acquired a 10% stake in Areva, reducing its consolidated debt to €3 billion, while the French government was unable to rescue its nuclear leader from debt alone.

Areva underwent a name change to Orano on January 23, 2018.

In the 21st century, France has not built any new reactors. The late 1970s to early 1980s saw the construction of the majority of French nuclear power facilities, with an initial reactor lifespan of 30–40 years. On two separate occasions, they have already extended this lifespan by ten years. France will eventually require the decommissioning of its entire nuclear fleet, and it currently lacks the necessary replacement capacity.

Neglect in the nuclear sector has led to issues like “stress corrosion” in weld fissures. In 2019, the French Nuclear Safety Agency (ASN) identified issues with steam generators in 20 reactors. ASN chief Bernard Doroszczuk announced in May 2022 that addressing the issues would require reactor shutdowns, a process that would take years due to the impracticality of rust remediation without reactor shutdowns.

In reactors that were relatively new and were manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company, corrosion was detected, and it was not associated with metal deterioration.

France installed 16 pressurized water reactors (PWRs) manufactured by Westinghouse Electric between 1974 and 1982. More than half of the French reactors shut down in May 2022 due to “stress corrosion” or micro-cracks near weld fissures. The Électricité de France SA expert team determined that these deficiencies were structural and initiated repairs on the 16 Westinghouse reactors.

The Russian company OKB (experiment and design bureau) Gidropress (Podolsk) has been monitoring pipeline damage in power facilities worldwide. Vladimir Bergunker, the lead specialist, observed that Westinghouse frequently switched from one defective alloy to another for weld seams, leading to subpar results. Due to a lack of alternatives, the French used these alloys.

Emmanuel Macron advocated for the resurgence of French nuclear power after 2021, to construct 14 new reactors. Bernard Doroszczuk, the director of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), responded by stating that a new “Marshall Plan” would be required. In response, the French government employed 100 fabricators from Westinghouse to repair reactors.

Westinghouse Electric Company is a worldwide leader in the production of nuclear fuel. Nevertheless, it has encountered financial and competitive challenges.

British Nuclear Fuel Limited acquired Westinghouse Electric Company in 1996 and subsequently sold it to Toshiba of Japan in 2006. In early March 2017, Toshiba disclosed that it was contemplating the sale of Westinghouse due to the substantial losses it had incurred, which were a threat to Toshiba’s financial stability. Westinghouse submitted a bankruptcy petition in March 2017 with $9.8 billion in liabilities as a result of its failure to secure contracts. Toshiba disclosed an agreement to transfer Westinghouse to Brookfield Business Partners and its investment partners on April 6, 2018.

Nuclear energy has suffered a significant and irreversible loss of technological leadership in the United States and France. The fact that France relies on welders from an insolvent Westinghouse who inadvertently replicate issues at French reactors underscores a substantial technological setback.

Fuel processing capabilities are intricately associated with nuclear power competencies. Currently, neither the United States nor France possess these capabilities, a situation often mocked with the phrase “neither this nor that.”

The European consortium Urenco (UK, Germany, Netherlands) is the sole hope for the production of enriched uranium in the West.

As per the US Stimson Center, Urenco is expanding the capacity of all four enrichment facilities. As the first cascades come online in 2025, the capacity of the US site in New Mexico will increase by 15% by 2028. The Almelo facility in the Netherlands will add 15% of capacity by 2027, while the Tailings Management Facility (TMF) waste treatment plant in Capenhurst, UK, and Gronau, Germany will also experience additional capacity gains. The analysts from the Stimson Center have said that these expansions will include US imports from Russia by 2028.

American analysts seem to overstate their optimism. In his interview with the Financial Times, Nicolas Maes explicitly stated that the replacement of Russian uranium would necessitate a robust political solution, essentially a new Marshall Plan, which neither the US nor the EU can afford.

Russia is responsible for the production of fuel for Soviet-designed reactors in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia. Only 34 of the world’s 439 reactors are located in Russia, yet due to its preserved and expanded uranium enrichment industry leadership, Russia now enriches nearly half of the global uranium use. Almost all significant nations purchase Russia’s enriched uranium, with energy companies from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia signing orders ten years in advance.  

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