A company linked to Russia is set to help continue the work of a major nuclear project operating in Germany.
A joint venture between a French and Russian-linked company is set to enable a nuclear fuel rod manufacturer in Germany to keep operating, reports on Thursday have said.
The announcement is a little embarrassing for the country’s government, which has been steadfast in its claims that it can use Western green energy to end its reliance on Russian energy imports, mainly gas and oil on which Germany made itself so reliant after the Cold War.
However, according to a report in Der Spiegel, such a claim does not appear to have proven true for nuclear power at least, with officials seemingly deeming Russian involvement in the ANF fuel rod plant in Lingen a necessary evil.
Although a previous plan for a Russia-linked firm to support the plant reportedly fell through last year, it has now been confirmed that a joint venture between a French nuclear firm and another company owned by Russian state-owned energy firm Rosatom will be responsible for keeping production going.
The news has greatly angered Green party officials within the country, who have demanded the end of both Russian involvement in Germany, as well as the European country’s links to nuclear power.
“Doing business with Putin should be ended,” the Greens’ Lower Saxony energy minister Christian Meyer remarked, describing the deal as being toxic.
Nevertheless, even as Germany itself moves to decommission all of its remaining electricity-generating nuclear power plants, Europe as a whole appears to still need Russian nuclear energy.
Amid ongoing sanctions against other energy exports from Moscow, some have previously pushed for the EU to implement similar restrictions on the country’s nuclear exports, which are almost entirely controlled by state-owned enterprises.
Such a plan has now reportedly been dropped by the bloc, seemingly because a number of countries within the union are heavily reliant on such exports from Rosatom in particular for their power, with Hungary in particular being pointed to by officials in order to explain the lack of sanctions.
“Hungary doesn’t let it through, as their nuclear plant is owned by Rosatom and they say it produces 50 per cent of the country’s energy supply.” one senior diplomat is reported as saying earlier this year.
Meanwhile, despite all the problems it is having with energy supply shortages, Germany itself is seemingly continuing with its plan to scrap its remaining three nuclear power plants this April, much to the delight of hardcore environmentalists in the country.
The general public does not appear to share such enthusiasm though, with a recent poll indicating that 71 per cent of the population are actually against closing the plants next month.
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