The military coup in major uranium producer Niger does not pose a problem for supplies of nuclear fuel for the European Union, an EU spokesman said Tuesday.
“There is no supply risk as such when it comes to the EU,” European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz said.
“EU utilities have sufficient inventories of natural uranium to mitigate any short-term supply risks and for the medium and long term there are enough deposits on the world market to cover the EU needs.”
Former French colony Niger possesses some of the world’s largest uranium reserves, which are essential in the nuclear industry.
For decades, French business Orano, formerly Areva, has been a prominent presence in the west African nation, operating a major uranium mine there.
Niger was the EU’s second-largest supplier of natural uranium in 2022, after Kazakhstan, according to the bloc’s Euratom organization.
In total, Kazakhstan, Niger and Canada supplied 74 percent of the total delivered to the EU.
Overall, Niger’s share of global production was under five percent in 2021, the EU says.
The elite Presidential Guard deposed Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, a Western friend whose victory just over two years ago marked his country’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.
The EU has publicly denounced his removal, and France has announced that it is prepared to remove its citizens after violent mobs gathered outside its embassy on Sunday.