The Russian cargo ship Mikhail Dudin (IMO: 9057329, currently sailing under the Panamanian flag) has arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the Ecodefense environmental rights group told The Insider. The development has been confirmed by vessel-tracking service data. According to the environmental activists, the Mikhail Dudin is carrying a cargo of enriched uranium intended for a plant in Lingen, Germany, owned by a subsidiary of the French energy company Framatome. The facility is launching nuclear fuel production under a license from the Russian company TVEL, a Rosatom structure.
After unloading, the uranium will be delivered to Lingen by truck. Mikhail Dudin was scheduled to arrive at the port on Oct. 21 but was delayed by a day for unknown reasons. Ecodefense also believes that, for the first time, Rosatom has sent fuel rods in order to start producing fuel for Soviet-design reactors operating in Europe.
“This would significantly save Framatome time on fuel production, but it would also raise the risk that Russia carried out dangerous manipulations on the fuel rods. In addition, all work in Lingen will be executed using Russian equipment and, most likely, with the involvement of Rosatom experts at various stages. In 2024, 20 Rosatom employees already worked in Lingen and could move freely around the site and establish personal contacts. In effect, Framatome ensures that EU certification is obtained for Russian nuclear fuel protected from sanctions,” the group’s statement says.
On Sept. 21, activists from AgiEL, SOFA, .ausgestrahlt, and Ecodefense held a protest near the plant in Lingen, demanding an end to cooperation with Rosatom.
“Rosatom is taking part in the war against Ukraine: its employees, together with the army, operate the seized Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Rosatom also supplies weapons companies with high-tech components for producing missiles, tanks, and other weapons,” Ecodefense co-chair Vladimir Slivyak told The Insider.
“After German authorities approved the plan for cooperation with Rosatom in July, the arrival of Rosatom employees to ‘consult’ the French Framatome, which owns the plant in Lingen, can be expected at any moment. From the environmental groups’ perspective, such a development is nothing short of a security catastrophe. Therefore, environmentalists demand that the permit issued to the Kremlin-controlled Rosatom be revoked to prevent colossal damage to domestic and foreign security,” the eco-activists’ statement read.
The Lingen plant itself belongs to Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF), a subsidiary of France’s Framatome. At the end of July, the authorities in Lower Saxony issued the company a permit to expand production. As reported, ANF and TVEL will partner to produce hexagonal fuel assemblies for Soviet-designed VVER water-water power reactors, which are common in Eastern Europe.
Lower Saxony Environment Minister Christian Meyer spoke out against the decision but stressed that state authorities have no legal grounds to refuse the permit given the fact that the European Union has not imposed sanctions on Rosatom.
After the permit for Rosatom’s participation in nuclear fuel production on German territory was issued, BUND Lower Saxony and .ausgestrahlt turned to the Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg, demanding that the permit be suspended. The court is currently considering the motion.
