France, July 23 -- The planned joint venture by a subsidiary of French company Framatome and Russia's state-owned nuclear power agency Rosatom will produce fuel rods used in Russian-designed reactors - at Framatome's fuel rod assembly facility in the town of Lingen in the German state of Lower Saxony.

Germany closed the last of its own nuclear reactors in 2023, but has not abolished all nuclear-related industrial activity.

The Lingen fuel plant is treated as a separate facility with its own legal status and licences.

The state's environment ministry said in a statement on Wednesday it had "decided to approve" the project, adding that "so far, Russia's nuclear sector and the import of Russian uranium into the EU have not been subject to...