2023-08-01 18:06:32
Sovereignty. When Emmanuel Macron met last February with his Nuclear Policy Council (CPN) to maintain “the course” of the revival of the sector, this word was on everyone’s lips. “Take back control of our energy future and strengthen our security of supply and our sovereignty. This is how the president justified the construction of six new EPR2 type reactors.
So when Niger, the EU’s second largest supplier of natural uranium (25.38% of European imports of natural uranium), fell into the hands of putschist generals, some worried about EDF’s ability to supply the 56 French reactors without the precious Nigerien uranium, thus calling into question French energy independence.
“Niger provides France with the uranium essential for nuclear power plants. Hence the defense counsel. Reminder: nuclear power does not allow energy independence at all, ”wrote EELV deputy Sandrine Rousseau on Twitter on Saturday. Sylvain Maillard, president of the Renaissance group in the Assembly, was also worried about France Info last Thursday. “You know very well that uranium is also part of the equation, and therefore we are watching very carefully what will happen,” said the parliamentarian at the time.
In this country of the Sahel, there are 1,500 French soldiers, around 600 nationals, who are being repatriated on Tuesday, and several companies including the multinational specializing in the exploitation of uranium mines Orano (ex-Areva). The French company has been present for more than fifty years in the northwest of the country, in the desert region of Aïr. There, it extracted 1,996 tonnes of uranium metal in 2021, or around 30% of its annual global production. Because yes, even if Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is nonetheless rich in uranium. And the French power stations are fond of it. But are they dependent on it?
Long term stocks
Unlike gas and oil, the nuclear industry does not operate in a just-in-time fashion. “If we close a mine, it has no immediate effect on the power stations. Firstly, because the power stations use the fuels for three years. Secondly, because there is a long time between the moment when the uranium is extracted from the ground and the moment when the material is used in a power station. Finally, we currently have two years of stocks of uranium and its transformed products, enriched uranium, converted uranium and assembled uranium”, explains Teva Meyer, lecturer in geography and geopolitics and researcher specializing in nuclear civil.
In the long term, France could have been worried about its subsidiary if Niger was its only uranium producer. But “compared to the 1970s, France has diversified its sources of uranium”, notes Jean-Marc Gravellini, associate researcher at IRIS, specialist in security and development issues in the Sahelian zone. Indeed, according to Teva Meyer, Nigerian uranium has represented 15 to 17% of French imports over the past 10 years.
“Imports from Niger represent only a tiny part of our needs. In the long term, in the unlikely event that all was lost, the uranium would have to be bought elsewhere or new mines developed elsewhere,” explains Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of the Energy and Climate Center at Ifri. However, for several years, France has been importing less from Niger “because of the production costs in Niger which are high”, notes Teva Meyer. Costs that have prompted the French operator to turn for a few years to Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan but also in Azerbaijan and Australia. “Especially since today, with the lessons of the war in Ukraine, we are diversifying our energy sources more easily,” adds Jean-Marc Gravellini.
Niger, the world’s fifth largest producer of natural uranium
The three experts are unanimous. The coup d’etat by the Nigerien military and a scenario of a break in the country’s supply of uranium will have no consequence in the short and medium term on the French nuclear subsidiary. A position shared by the European Commission which indicated through the voice of a spokesperson for the European executive during a press conference on Tuesday that “there is no supply risk with regard to the EU. EU operators have sufficient stocks of natural uranium to mitigate any short-term supply risk”.
“In the medium and long term, there are enough deposits on the world market to cover the needs of the EU”, added the spokesman. According to Euratom, Kazakhstan is the world’s leading producer of natural uranium, with 40.6% of the total extracted in 2020, followed far behind by Australia (12.8%), Namibia (11.3%), Canada (8.1%) then finally Niger (7.6%).
“The situation in Niger does not present any risk to the security of France’s supply of natural uranium,” the French Ministry for Energy Transition told him on Tuesday, emphasizing efforts to diversify uranium supplies. The ministry also argues that EDF had implemented “inventory management covering several years and is developing the recycling of spent fuel”.
Fears on the side of Orano
“On the other hand, the problem is very clearly for Orano”, raises Teva Meyer. Given the proportions that the mines of Niger have in the company’s uranium sales, in the event of a diplomatic break with the regime in place, the financial losses are likely to be significant. But that day has not arrived. For the moment, “operational activities are continuing”, indicates to 20 Minutes the mining group.
“The safety of all our employees present in Niger and our sites continues to be ensured and increased vigilance. Today, operational activities continue. The presence of expatriates does not condition the continuity of activities. As a reminder, 99% of employees are Nigeriens, ”wrote Orano, which employs around 900 people on site, in an email this Tuesday morning. Pending future announcements from the coup government, another risk surrounds French uranium mining in the Sahel: China, as Teva Meyer explains. “The Chinese settled in Niger in 2007. They don’t mine, they don’t extract. But they have a shutdown mine in which they are majority shareholders, and a month ago they signed a new contract with the Nigerien government to bring it back into operation. They are the ones who watch future investments with great interest,” or on the contrary, Orano’s exit from Nigerien uranium.
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