Uranium Mines in Europe: Which Still Operate, by Country

Uranium mines in Europe are now few. Outside Russia, Ukraine’s three state-run underground mines and Finland’s Sotkamo by-product plant are the working sources in the World Nuclear Association (WNA) profiles, and Ukraine’s output was only about 288 tonnes of uranium (tU) in 2024. Czech mining stopped after 2016 and Romanian mining in 2017.

This page lists nine countries by status: producing, closed or held back by law. It shows who supplies EU reactors, names the listed companies tied to European deposits, and gives a calculator to test a deposit’s rough margin at your own price.

Uranium mines in Europe by status

The table uses WNA country profiles read in November 2026, plus a monitoring group’s file for Portugal. “tU” means tonnes of uranium metal. Russia is left out, so this page covers the rest of Europe.

Producing uranium mines in Europe

Ukraine: the largest working base

WNA lists three underground mines run by state company VostGOK: Ingulskaya, Smolinskaya and Novokonstantinovskoye. A 2022 plan kept Smolinskaya open until the end of 2023 and Ingulskaya until 2028, with new capacity at Novokonstantinovskoye and Aprelskoye aimed for 2026. Ore is mostly hard rock at about 0.1-0.2% uranium, and it is milled at Zhovti Vody.

Output has dropped from about 700-1,200 tU a year in 2015-2020 to as low as 100 tU in 2022. WNA points to debt, old equipment, labour disputes and regulated prices. In July 2026 parliament passed a law that lets the government turn VostGOK into a joint stock company, as a step towards merging it with reactor operator Energoatom.

Novokonstantinovskoye is claimed to be Europe’s largest uranium deposit, with about 80,000 tU at 0.14% quoted in the 2022 Red Book. Pilot production took place, but WNA says the mine never reached full operation.

Finland: uranium as a by-product at Sotkamo

Terrafame began recovering uranium at its Sotkamo nickel and zinc site in June 2024. WNA calls Finland the only uranium-producing EU member state. The plant was expected to reach about 200 tU a year by 2026, from ore holding roughly 17 mg/kg. That is a by-product stream, so it depends on the base metal operation. The Sotkamo mine’s temporary environmental permit runs to 31 March 2029.

Chart

Ukraine’s uranium output

Tonnes of uranium a year, WNA estimates

Closed uranium mines in Europe

Europe’s history is larger than its present. Germany has produced nearly 220,000 tU in total and the Czech Republic about 112,000 tU, according to WNA historical production data. France added about 76,000 tU.

Chart

Cumulative uranium mined, selected European countries

Tonnes of uranium, 1945-2024

Czech Republic

The Rožná deposit in southern Moravia was the last operating uranium mine in central Europe. Production ended in 2016 and the government closed the mine early in 2017. Total Czech output was 112,330 tU over 1946-2024 in the same profile. Around 160,000 t of uranium remains near Stráž pod Ralskem, but it lies under a major drinking water aquifer. A groundwater clean-up there after 32 years of in-situ mining was put at €1.25 billion.

Romania

State company CNU produced about 50 tU a year at Crucea-Botușana. WNA says the mines are now depleted and production ceased in 2017. The Feldioara mill now belongs to reactor operator Nuclearelectrica.

Germany and France

Mining in the former East Germany yielded some 220,000 tU from 1946 to 1990, with heavy environmental damage. Output fell to 232 tU in 1992, then to small amounts from decommissioning. France now buys abroad: it uses about 8,200 tU a year, much of it historically from Canada and Niger.

Spain and Portugal

Mina Fe in Salamanca was the largest uranium mine in the Iberian Peninsula. It produced over 4,000 tU and closed in 2000 on low prices. In Portugal, Urgeiriça was mined from 1951 to 1991, says the WISE Uranium file on European decommissioning, with a reclamation programme presented in 2005.

Projects and legal barriers

Geology is not the main barrier in several countries. Law and local consent often decide the outcome.

• Sweden. The 2018 ban on exploration and mining was repealed from 1 January 2026. A June 2026 law removed the municipal approval requirement, in force from 15 July. Aura Energy holds Häggån and District Metals holds Viken, both in Jämtland. District’s June 2026 preliminary study envisaged about 1,269 tU a year for 13 years. These are company figures for early-stage projects in very low-grade shale.
• Spain. Berkeley Energia got a 30-year licence for Retortillo in 2014, but the ministry rejected the plant authorization in 2021 after an unfavourable safety council report. Its appeal was rejected, and it began arbitration in 2024 and filed a claim for $1.25 billion in February 2026.
• Slovakia. Since June 2015, mining needs approval in a local referendum. Kurišková near Košice has over 12,900 t U3O8 of indicated resources at 0.525% (2015 company estimate). The ministry refused to extend its exploration licence in 2015, and a court dismissed the company’s lawsuit in 2016.
• Czech Republic. Brzkov holds about 3,150 tU in reserves. Diamo said it would take 6-7 years to commission and that development would depend on prices. In July 2026 the environment ministry discontinued Diamo’s application to extend the protected area, and the 2026 Red Book calls production there a possibility only in the distant future.

Who supplies European reactors

EU reactors rely on imports. At the end of 2025 there were 98 reactors in 12 member states, producing 23.3% of EU electricity, says the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA). Deliveries of natural uranium that year were about 14,680 tU. Canada was the largest origin at 36.68%, and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) supplied 46.81% combined. The ESA table shows zero delivered from EU origin.

Chart

Origin of uranium delivered to EU utilities

Tonnes of uranium, 2025, largest origins

That scale puts European output in context. If Sotkamo reaches 200 tU a year, that equals about 1.4% of 2025 EU deliveries. Ukraine’s mines also fall short of its own needs: WNA says VostGOK had been producing up to 830 tU a year, around 30% of national requirements.

How large are European uranium resources?

Outside Russia, Ukraine is the one European country named in WNA’s world table, with 161,300 tU recoverable below $130/kg as of January 2025, about 3% of the world total. Its country profile quotes a higher 184,474 tU from the 2026 Red Book, and only 5,630 tU of that below $80/kg. So the cheap share is small. Sweden’s figure is larger on paper: the 2022 Red Book estimated over one million tU in alum shales, but at very low grades.

Globally, the 2026 Red Book reports more than 8.1 million tU recoverable below $260/kgU as of 1 January 2025. It puts 2024 world output at 61,924 tU. It also warns that resources alone do not secure supply: new projects need sustained investment and long lead times. Demand could rise 42% by 2050 in its low case and more than double in its high case.

Uranium stocks linked to European deposits

Readers often search for “European uranium resources stock”. European Uranium Resources was a Canadian company, and WNA says it became Azarga Metals in 2016 and turned to a Russian copper-silver project. Forte Energy agreed in 2014 to buy into its Slovak assets, but ended the deal in 2015. Current names tied to European deposits in WNA profiles include Berkeley Energia (Spain), Aura Energy and District Metals (Sweden). Terrafame and VostGOK are state-owned, so most of Europe’s actual output has no direct listed route.

These are developers, so legal and permit outcomes matter as much as the uranium price. This page is general information, not investment advice. Read company filings and get professional advice before you act.

How to read a uranium mine claim

Old lists of European uranium mines often mix up deposits, projects and working mines. Four checks help.

1. Is it producing? A deposit is rock in the ground, a project is a plan, and a mine has output. Novokonstantinovskoye shows the gap: a ceremonial first production was held in 2008, yet the mine has not reached full operation.
2. What does the tonnage measure? Resources, reserves and annual output are different things. Check also whether a figure is in tU or in tonnes or pounds of U3O8. One tU equals about 1.18 t of U3O8.
3. At what cost? A resource figure comes with a cost ceiling. Ukraine’s figure shrinks from over 184,000 tU below $130/kg to 5,630 tU below $80/kg.
4. Who said it? Government data in the Red Book and a company’s own study are not equal. Note the date as well: a 2016 cost estimate or a 2022 resource figure may be out of step with today’s prices.

A permit is a further test. Retortillo had a mining licence, municipal permit and years of approvals, and it still lacks the plant authorization it needs to start construction.

Prices used to judge a deposit

ESA gives three 2025 reference points for EU contracts: its multiannual price of €131.37/kgU, its MAC-3 price of €165.76/kgU, and its spot index of €168.92/kgU. On the world market, the average UxC spot price was $72.94/lb U3O8 and the long-term price $81.50/lb. All are 2025 averages, not today’s quote.

Cost claims need care. Berkeley’s 2016 feasibility study gave $13.30/lb for Salamanca, but that is a company estimate for a mine that was never built. Grade also matters: WNA notes that deposits supporting present mines mostly average above 0.10% uranium. Use the calculator below with your own numbers.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

Land, water and monitoring around old mines

Legacy sites are the longest-lasting part of uranium mining in Europe. The Czech case above shows that clean-up can cost over a billion euros, and aquifers can decide whether a deposit is ever opened.

▶ How a satellite water index (NDWI) tracks water content from space, shown on farmland. · 7:57

Satellite images can show vegetation change, surface disturbance and water extent around a site over time. They cannot measure radiation or groundwater quality, which need on-site sampling under the national regulator’s rules. For early-stage screening, Farmonaut describes its approach on its satellite mineral exploration page.

Related pages on our site: carbon footprint tracking, product traceability, fleet management, crop loan and insurance, farm admin app, web and mobile app, satellite data API and API developer documents.

▶ A tutorial on reading satellite data layers in the Farmonaut web app. · 10:16

European mine cut diamond: not a mining term

This page once compared uranium with the “European mine cut diamond”. The two have no real link. “Old mine cut” and “old European cut” are historic diamond cutting styles, and the words describe the shape of the stone, not a mine in Europe. Anyone searching for uranium mines can ignore the term.

FAQ

Are there any uranium mines in Europe?

Yes, a few. WNA lists three state-run underground mines in Ukraine, and Finland’s Terrafame recovers uranium as a by-product at Sotkamo. Output is small: Ukraine produced an estimated 288 tU in 2024.

Which European country has the most uranium?

Russia has the largest figure in WNA’s January 2025 table, at 471,700 tU below $130/kg. Outside Russia it depends on the measure. Ukraine has 161,300 tU in that table. Sweden’s alum shales were estimated at over one million tU in the 2022 Red Book, but at far lower grades and with no mines.

Where does the EU get its uranium?

In 2025 the largest origins were Canada (36.68%), Kazakhstan (20.31%), Russia (15.98%), Uzbekistan (10.37%) and Australia (9.39%), according to the Euratom Supply Agency.

Why did Czech uranium mining stop?

The Rožná deposit was substantially depleted by 2014, and production ended in 2016. Remaining sandstone resources near Stráž pod Ralskem lie under a major drinking water aquifer.

Can Sweden mine uranium now?

Mining is legal again since 1 January 2026, but Sweden has no uranium mines. Projects such as Häggån and Viken are at an early stage and still need permits.