On August 18 (local time), according to TASS news agency, more than 200 employees at the facility of Urenco company in the UK, which enriches uranium and is expected to supply enriched uranium to Ukrainian nuclear power plants, voted to strike due to salary disagreements.
More than 200 Urenco employees working at the Capenhurst facility in Cheshire, in charge of uranium enrichment activities, voted in favor of the strike to protest against the wage issue," Unite, the UK's largest union, said.
According to Unite, although Urenco recorded a record number of orders worth 27.3 billion euros (equivalent to 31.8 billion USD), along with profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reaching 221.8 million euros (equivalent to 258.3 million USD) and net profit of 12.9 million euros (equivalent to 15 million USD), the company only proposed a salary increase of 4.1%.
This proposal has been rejected by workers, according to the Unite trade union. The specific time to proceed with the strike will be decided later.
Urenco is a company operating in the field of uranium enrichment and providing related services to the nuclear energy industry.
Information about the strike was released in the context of the UK continuing to implement an agreement to supply enriched uranium to Ukraine.
In June, the British government announced that it would supply enriched uranium to Ukrainian nuclear power plants under an agreement worth £210 million (about USD 280 million). This is a continuation of a contract signed 2 years ago.
In 2023, Urenco signed an agreement with Energoatom, the company operating the nuclear power plants of Ukraine, on the supply of enriched uranium to this country until 2035.
According to the agreement, the enriched uranium source supplied by Urenco will be used for the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. The source did not specify whether the strike vote at the Capenhurst facility will directly affect the progress of contracts to supply uranium to Ukraine.
