The Finnish government has granted a uranium recovery and refinery permit to Terrafame, making the country the EU’s only uranium producer.
The company’s main activities are related to nickel and zinc mining. Uranium is a by-product of the metal mining process. Terrafame, a 70% state-owned company, plans to refine the uranium into yellowcake, which is used as a fuel for nuclear power plants.
The aim is to export yellowcake to North America or other countries in Europe, for which the company needed an approval from the government, as well as from Euratom. It got the permission to produce up to 250 tonnes of uranium annually.
As the decision is subject to appeal at the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, it could take up to two years until the approval enters into force.
The environmental NGO, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation is one of the groups that are expected to appeal against the decision, as it says the permit violates the Nuclear Energy Act.
Finland to become EU’s sole uranium producer
EPA-EFE/TERRAFAME HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
A handout photo dated 20 August 2015 made available by Finnish mining company Terrafame, showing a haul truck at Terrafame's mine in Sotkamo, Finland. Reports on 06 February 2020 state the Finnish government has given Terrafame a permission to mine and refine uranium at its mine in north-eastern Finland. The decision makes Terrafame the only country in European Union to mine uranium. The company is allowed to mine a maximum of 250 tons of uranium annually.
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