Western countries become independent of Russian uranium thanks to Dutch Urenco factory

Thanks to the Urenco factory in Almelo, Western countries will soon no longer be dependent on Russian-enriched uranium. This is what Urenco director Ad Louter said on the eve of the construction of a new hall in the factory, which will significantly increase production.

The Russian state-owned company Rosatom controlled around half of the world market for enriched uranium until 2022. Many Western countries wanted to get rid of Russian uranium since the war in Ukraine. US President Joe Biden is even considering banning imports soon. However, the European Union does not yet dare to impose sanctions because it is 35 percent dependent on Russian uranium.

According to director Louter, Urenco can solve that problem. The first shovel will be broken on Monday for the construction of an eighth hall, which will allow the production of enriched uranium in Almelo to be increased by 15 percent. "This will allow us to maintain sufficient capacity to make the Western countries completely independent of Russia in the long term," says Louter.

The International Atomic Agency (IAEA) warned last month that it is "unrealistic" to stop doing business with Rosatom because it could bring the nuclear industry in several countries to a standstill. Moreover, according to the IAEA, reducing Russia's independence will cost many billions.

Louter agrees. "We need time. It will take our sector about four years before we are completely independent. And these are indeed major investments. But that applies to the entire energy transition."

Urenco announced last week that the order book has increased by 36 percent. Private investors have rediscovered the uranium market, Louter confirms. "You can see this in the price of uranium, which has risen enormously. Mines are opening again in Canada and Australia. Companies such as Rolls-Royce, General Electric Hitachi, Westinghouse and Bill Gates' Terrapower are investing billions in smaller reactors."

The Urenco Group is owned by the Dutch and British states and the German electricity companies E.ON and RWE. A few years ago, a Japanese bank was said to have shown interest in Dutch shares. However, Louter did not want to respond to that. "That is up to our shareholders. I will not discuss that. But we have to meet very strict requirements. That makes a takeover by a private investor not very obvious."