Advanced Nuclear Fuels GmbH (ANF), a subsidiary of the French nuclear group Framatome, has been producing fuel elements for nuclear power plants in Europe in Lingen, Lower Saxony, since 1979. With the German nuclear phase-out on 15 April 2023 - when the last three German nuclear power plants, including the Emsland nuclear power plant directly at the ANF site, were taken off the grid - the domestic market for the company has largely disappeared.
However, ANF had already begun to develop a new business segment: the production of hexagonal fuel elements for pressurised water reactors of Soviet design (VVER), which are still in operation in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. For a long time, these 19 reactors obtained their fuel exclusively or predominantly from Russia. According to the EU Commission, although all operators have now signed contracts with alternative suppliers, they are still heavily dependent on Russian technology.
