France’s continuing reliance on Russia for part of its nuclear fuel cycle is facing a new legal challenge, with Greenpeace seeking to force French state electricity company EDF to address the environmental, health and human rights implications of its dealings with Russian state nuclear group Rosatom.
In 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Greenpeace France revealed that reprocessed uranium – known as RepU – was being shipped to Rosatom's Seversk site in Siberia for conversion so it can eventually be reused as fuel in French nuclear power plants.
EDF subsequently halted the exports after being ordered to do so by the French government.
However, in November 2025 Greenpeace France revealed that shipments had resumed through the port of Dunkirk, despite the continuing war in Ukraine.
Seversk remains the only facility in the world capable of carrying out the conversion of this reprocessed uranium.
Omission of risks
In May 2026, Greenpeace raised concerns about the lack of European sanctions targeting Russia's nuclear sector, when import bans had already been imposed on Russian oil and gas.
The NGO is now challenging EDF's handling of those activities under France's corporate duty of vigilance law.
Under this 2017 law, large French companies must identify and take steps to prevent serious risks to human rights, health and safety and the environment resulting from their activities.
In a formal notice sent this month, Greenpeace accused EDF of failing to include key risks linked to its Russian operations in its 2024 and 2025 vigilance plans – including environmental damage, risks to workers' health and safety and the possibility of serious human rights violations.
It has given EDF three months to respond to its formal notice and says it could then take the matter to the Paris Judicial Court.
Greenpeace says the processing of reprocessed uranium at Seversk carries risks of pollution and damage to biodiversity. It also says approximately 90 percent of the material sent there remains at the site in the form of radioactive materials and waste.
"EDF cannot simultaneously publicly promote its uranium cycle as part of the circular economy while glossing over the environmental, health and human impacts of that cycle – including those occurring abroad," Roger Spautz, Energy Transition and Nuclear Campaigner for Greenpeace France, said.
Forced labour
Greenpeace also pointed to the condition of facilities at Seversk during a 2012 visit by France's High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety (HCTISN).
The NGO says the site has a history of accidents involving the release of radioactive material into the environment, including an explosion on 6 April, 1993.
It added that workers involved in converting and re-enriching uranium face serious health and safety risks.
Its third concern relates to human rights and Rosatom's activities in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The International Labour Organisation has reported that workers at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have faced forced labour, coercion, interference with freedom of association and serious workplace safety risks under Russian occupation.
"By leaving these activities in its blind spot, EDF is failing to meet its obligations under the duty of vigilance," Charlotte Rohmer, a legal expert at Greenpeace France, said.
"The company must update its vigilance plan and thereby shed light on the consequences of its activities in Russia."
Greenpeace is asking EDF to complete its risk assessment, regularly assess Rosatom and companies it owns or controls, introduce measures to prevent or reduce serious risks and publish a system for monitoring whether those measures work.
As well as sending reprocessed uranium to Siberia, France also imports natural uranium from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with some supplies passing through logistics networks linked to Russia.
President Emmanuel Macron addressed France's dependence on Russia at the World Nuclear Summit in Paris in March, while arguing that nuclear power could help provide affordable energy, reduce carbon emissions and strengthen strategic autonomy.
He also called for greater international cooperation to diversify nuclear supplies and reduce dependence on Russian nuclear fuel-cycle services.
(with newswires)
