![]() ![]() ![]() When a U-235 nucleus absorbs an extra neutron, it quickly breaks into two parts. Despite calls to keep the existing nuclear power plants running to save on coal and natural gas, Germany’s government remains steadfast in its decision to close down the country’s last nuclear plant at the end of this year. The arrangement of particles within uranium-235 is somewhat unstable and the nucleus can disintegrate if it is excited by an outside source. ![]() Unlike the embargos on Russian fossil fuels, cutting dependency on Rosatom has been little discussed since president Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine and there are currently no sanctions on Russian nuclear fuel imports for civil use. In reactors, fission occurs when uranium atoms are hit. According to German nuclear power plant operator PreussenElektra, Germany’s three remaining reactors are also mainly running on Russian and Kazakh uranium. A nuclear reactor works by using the energy that is released when the nucleus of a heavy atom splits. More than a third of the global demand for enriched uranium, which is needed for the operation of nuclear power plants, comes from the Russian company. This Russian state corporation also has shares in uranium mines in Canada, the USA and above all Kazakhstan, making it the second largest uranium producer in the world, the report states. The dependency on Russian uranium is highest in Eastern Europe, where 18 nuclear power plants are calibrated to use the hexagonal fuel elements provided by Rosatom. In nuclear fission the nucleus of an atom breaks up into two lighter nuclei. This is the opposite of nuclear power plants we have today that release energy through fission, or splitting atoms apart. The process is accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy. In 2020, EU countries received 20.2 percent of their uranium needs from Russia and another 19.1 percent came from Russian ally Kazakhstan, according to the report. In a nuclear reactor the uranium fuel is assembled in such a way that a controlled fission chain reaction can be achieved. nuclear fission, subdivision of a heavy atomic nucleus, such as that of uranium or plutonium, into two fragments of roughly equal mass. The European nuclear power sector is highly dependent on imports of Russian uranium, according to a report by NGOs Friends of the Earth Germany ( BUND), the Nuclear Free Future Foundation, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Greenpeace and Ausgestrahlt. ![]()
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