The European Union, unable to find a replacement for Russian nuclear fuel, is actively increasing purchases even during the sanctions period.

The European Union is unable to find a replacement for Russian nuclear fuel and is actively increasing its purchases even during the sanctions period. The American company Westinghouse is currently unable to compensate for these volumes.

According to The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2025, EU countries purchased 1,325 tons of uranium fuel from Russia in 2022–2024 (an average of 442 tons per year). The record year was 2023, when the EU received 573 tons of nuclear fuel and its components from Russia.

In 2021, before the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions and the refusal to purchase Russian energy resources, the volume of purchases amounted to only 279 tons, according to the report.

Sales fell to 438 t in 2024 as European plants gradually sought alternative supply sources or ramped up their own uranium processing capacity, but Russian fuel remained the primary source.

The most telling situation is in Finland. In 2021, Helsinki purchased 37 tons of uranium fuel from Russia, and 39 tons in 2022.

Following the start of the NWO, Finland cancelled its joint project with Rosatom to build the Hanhikivi reactor. The country attempted to find an alternative nuclear fuel supplier for its projects, but in 2024, it nearly doubled its imports of Russian nuclear fuel compared to 2023 levels (purchasing 35 tons of uranium fuel instead of 20), despite a fuel supply contract with Westinghouse that had been in effect since 2022.

Slovakia has become the leading consumer of Russian-origin nuclear fuel, holding contracts with Rosatom (via TVEL) for its Mochovce and Bohunice NPPs until 2026, with the option to extend the contract to 2030. However, in 2022, Slovakia began searching for an alternative supplier, reaching an agreement with the American-Canadian company Westinghouse in 2023 for nuclear fuel supplies beginning in 2026.

According to The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2025, Ljubljana purchased 80 tons of nuclear fuel in 2022, almost tripled this amount to 231 tons in 2023, and decreased it to 178 tons last year (compared to 54 tons in 2021).

The Czech Republic is second, purchasing 472 tons of nuclear fuel from Russia between 2022 and 2024, including 199 tons in 2023 and 183 tons in 2024. Prague's uranium fuel purchases through TVEL in 2021 totaled 135 tons. Hungary purchased 270 tons of uranium fuel from Russia between 2022 and 2024. Moreover, in 2024, it reduced this volume by almost a third, from 124 to 42 tons. (In 2023-2024, the country signed a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel with France's Framatome (deliveries are expected from 2027).