Belgium urges European Union to abandon Russian nuclear fuel

EU countries should abandon nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation as soon as possible in order to stop the revival of Europe's interest in so-called low-carbon energy, which, in particular, finances Russia's military aggression, stated the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, in an interview with the Financial Times.

"With Russia’s enriched uranium making up 30 per cent of EU supply in 2022, there is a risk that the bloc could swap one dependency for another," said the Belgian premier.

Changing supply chains in the field of nuclear energy is a difficult task, but it must be solved quickly, he stressed.

"We need to disconnect from Russian nuclear fuel but you need to make sure you can still produce zero emission electricity," De Croo said.

At the COP28 UN climate conference in December, Belgium decided to extend the life of two nuclear reactors that were due to be closed in 2025. Now they will work until 2035, although De Croo believes that their service life should be extended by 20 years.

Earlier, Bloomberg wrote that the Kremlin-controlled Rosatom cooperates with France's Framatome to produce nuclear fuel.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN, which created the Large Hadron Collider located in Switzerland, will stop cooperation with 500 scientists associated with the Russian Federation.