French nuclear power on a Russian leash? Shocking Greenpeace report

The French branch of the international environmental protection organization Greenpeace assessed in a report that almost four years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, France is still engaged in nuclear trade with Russia. This sector is not subject to sanctions; according to Greenpeace, they should include the Russian Rosatom.

As Greenpeace points out, both France and the European Union maintain trade relations with Rosatom – the Russian state-owned company that manages the occupied Ukrainian Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.

France “continues to feed Russia's economy and, indirectly, its war machine,” said Greenpeace representative Pauline Boyer.

– The French government and Europe should impose sanctions on Rosatom to send a strong signal and end the impunity enjoyed by the company (…) that forcibly took control of another country's nuclear power plant – said Boyer. She then added that “in this context, nuclear trade with Rosatom is unacceptable.”

The data presented by Greenpeace update the information published in the organization's 2023 report. Already then, activists believed that France was dependent on civilian Russian nuclear energy.

Russian enriched uranium accounts for about 18 percent of supplies imported by France, Greenpeace estimates. In 2025, for about 50 percent. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were responsible for the import of uranium ore concentrate to France. However, as Greenpeace found, a significant part of this import transits through Russian territory. “The Russian state continues to maintain strong control over Kazakhstan's mining sector,” the report said.

All the uranium needed to operate French nuclear power plants is imported. According to data from EDF, nuclear energy provides 86 percent. France's electricity production.

From Paris Anna Wróbel (PAP)

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