Britain guarantees £210 million loan for enriched uranium supplies to Ukraine

The British government will support further supplies of enriched uranium for Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. The loan guarantee is intended to help keep them operating amid continuing Russian attacks on energy infrastructure while also supporting the British nuclear industry.

The UK’s export credit agency UK Export Finance will guarantee a loan worth £210 million (approx. CZK 5.9 billion). The financing will enable Urenco to supply enriched uranium to Ukrainian nuclear plant operator Energoatom over the next two years.

The support does not take the form of a direct subsidy. UKEF will guarantee a loan that Energoatom will use to finance the purchase of enriched uranium. The British government has not disclosed which banks are involved in the new financing or further details of the loan agreement.

Energoatom accounts for more than half of Ukraine’s electricity generation. The reliable operation of its nuclear units is particularly important for the country at a time when Russian attacks are repeatedly damaging power plants, the transmission grid and other parts of the energy infrastructure.

Guarantee follows earlier financing

The new agreement follows earlier two-year financing for enriched uranium supplies. In 2024, Energoatom secured a loan of approximately €181 million from Deutsche Bank and Barclays, also guaranteed by the UK’s export credit agency. According to World Nuclear News, the Ukrainian company met its obligations to Urenco on time in 2024 and 2025.

Total British support focused on Ukraine’s energy security will rise to more than £490 million following the new agreement. This figure also includes other measures and is not limited to supplies of material used to produce nuclear fuel.

Urenco has worked with Energoatom since 2009. In November 2023, the companies signed a long-term agreement to supply enriched uranium through 2035, with an option to extend it through 2043. The new financing therefore supports the fulfilment of an existing long-term contract.

Contract to support Urenco’s British plant

Urenco’s enrichment plant in northwest England is expected to process more than a third of the material to be supplied. The company employs approximately 650 people in the UK. According to the British government, its operations support around 4,500 additional jobs across the associated supply chain.

Urenco operates uranium enrichment facilities in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States. Enrichment services are a key part of the nuclear fuel cycle, and their availability is important for reducing European operators’ dependence on Russian suppliers.

Enriched uranium is not finished nuclear fuel

Urenco will not supply Energoatom with finished fuel assemblies, but with enriched uranium intended for their manufacture. Natural uranium contains approximately 0.7% of the fissile isotope uranium-235. For conventional light-water reactors, enrichment typically raises its share to approximately 3 to 5%.

Ukraine’s supply chain involves several Western companies. Canada’s Cameco is to provide natural uranium hexafluoride, including conversion services, for nine reactors at the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and South Ukraine nuclear power plants between 2024 and 2035. Urenco provides the subsequent enrichment.

Westinghouse produces the finished fuel assemblies from the enriched uranium at its plant in Västerås, Sweden. Westinghouse supplies Energoatom with fuel for both VVER-1000 reactors and smaller VVER-440 units. The company delivered its first fuel batch for a Ukrainian VVER-440 reactor to the Rivne nuclear power plant in 2023.

Changing nuclear fuel suppliers

Ukraine began diversifying its nuclear fuel supplies before Russia’s 2022 invasion. Cooperation with Westinghouse has gradually enabled the introduction of alternative fuel assemblies, first in VVER-1000 reactors and later in VVER-440 units as well.

Cameco’s natural uranium supplies, Urenco’s enrichment services and Westinghouse’s fuel assembly production together form a supply chain independent of Russian companies. The new British guarantee is intended to help maintain this system over the next two years, during which Ukraine’s nuclear power plants will continue to account for a major share of the country’s electricity generation.