NUKEM “In Germany, the nuclear debate is conducted ideologically. The Japanese take a more pragmatic view.”

The nuclear company NUKEM looks back on 65 years of history in Germany – from fuel element production in the 1960s to its current specialisation in nuclear power plant decommissioning and waste management. After turbulent years under Russian ownership, the company was taken over by the Japanese IT company Muroosystems in 2024. J-BIG spoke with NUKEM executive officers Thomas Seipolt and Nobuaki Ninomiya, who is also COO and executive director at Muroosystems, about the company’s eventful history, cultural attitudes towards nuclear technology in Germany and Japan, and why an IT company like Muroosystems sees its future in nuclear energy.

J-BIG: Mr Seipolt, could you start by telling us a little about NUKEM’s 65-year history in Germany? How did it all begin?

Thomas Seipolt: NUKEM was founded in 1960 – its original name was “Nuklearchemie und Metallurgie GmbH” (Nuclear Chemistry and Metallurgy Ltd). We were one of the first German companies to be active in the nuclear fuel cycle. In the early years, the focus was primarily on fuel element manufacturing. At that time, Germany was working on various types of nuclear power plants and needed different types of fuel accordingly. Later, enrichment and other areas were added.

In the 1980s and 90s, we were very broadly positioned – from uranium trading and supplying isotopes to engineering services. In 2006, NUKEM Technologies was spun off as an independent entity, focusing on decommissioning, radioactive waste management and engineering. That was the beginning of the specialisation that distinguishes us today.

J-BIG: Nuclear energy has undergone a major transformation in Germany – from initial euphoria for this technology of the future to a complete phase-out. How has this affected your business over the years?

Thomas Seipolt: The company grew in parallel with the German nuclear energy industry and then developed strongly internationally. In 1960, nuclear power was viewed exclusively as a positive technology of the future. It was seen as an opportunity to produce endless amounts of electricity at a very low price. By the 1970s, there was already significant resistance to it in Germany. NUKEM also noticed this at its sites. In Hanau, our headquarters before we moved to Alzenau, there were massive demonstrations against the so-called “nuclear village”, including the fuel element factory. Compared to other neighbouring European countries, Germany had the most intense political debate on the subject and, as a result, strong opposition.

As a consequence, our business has changed over time. Throughout its history, NUKEM has been active across the entire nuclear fuel cycle – except for uranium mining: from enrichment and processing into fuel elements to use in power plants, waste treatment and decommissioning. What many people don’t know is that almost all stages of this cycle still take place in Germany. However, NUKEM’s focus is currently on waste treatment and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The expertise gained in the early days lives on in other forms: spherical graphite fuel elements, for example, a NUKEM patent from the 1960s, are now becoming very interesting in the field of small modular reactors. This is an important topic for us in the future.

J-BIG: How can a layperson imagine your business? Do you have any specific examples?

Thomas Seipolt: Let’s take waste treatment, currently our largest business area. Here we supply special waste treatment plants that are tailor-made for nuclear power plants in operation. A very good example is our FREMES system. Imagine an intelligent conveyor belt: material runs through it, is automatically measured for radioactivity and then sorted in real time. The system combines radiological characterisation and automatic sorting in a single step. It can process up to 10 tonnes of material per hour and automatically sorts it into three categories: releasable, conditionally releasable or radioactive waste.

Probably our biggest project in this area is the remediation of the former FBFC fuel element site in Dessel, Belgium. There, we processed and characterised around 45,000 tonnes of material. The system not only carried out the radiological measurements, but also automatically generated the complete documentation for the Belgian authorities. The site was officially released from nuclear supervision in 2022 – from a fully built-up industrial facility to a greenfield site.

We serve the decommissioning sector either in the form of engineering services and planning. This means we offer the customer a step-by-step sequence of decommissioning, with a detailed description of how to do it and specifications for the equipment. Or we take on the actual implementation – turnkey from licensing to the completed decommissioning of some reactor parts.

The most recent decommissioning project we completed at the end of last year involved four reactor pressure vessels in Sweden – at the Oskarshamn and Barsebäck sites, with two units each. The project ran from 2019 to 2024 and became more efficient with each reactor as we continuously learned from experience. We established a parallel workflow: while the pre-dismantling of the next component is already beginning, the previously processed component is still being dismantled. This mobile business model – moving from one construction site to another with the same team and the same equipment – could well become the standard for future decommissioning markets.

J-BIG: Exciting topics – but how does this fit in with a Japanese IT company like Muroosystems, which acquired NUKEM last year?

Nobuaki Ninomiya: As an IT company, it is extremely important for us to think about the future of energy. At Muroosystems and previously at my old employer SoftBank, I have seen first-hand the incredible amounts of energy that will be needed to make the technologies of the future possible – think AI, cloud services or blockchain, for example. Bitcoin currently ranks 26th in global electricity consumption, accounting for 0.2 per cent. Ethereum’s figures is similar, and the trend is rising. That is why IT companies have recently begun strategically acquiring hydroelectric and nuclear power plants. Natural or renewable energy is important for the next generation of blockchain and IT. We have also recognised this at Muroosystems.

In Kyrgyzstan, for example, we are working with the government to establish hydropower, while in Ethiopia, hydropower already accounts for 80 per cent of the energy mix. In Japan, just over five per cent of electricity is currently generated by nuclear power, with the rest coming mainly from coal and oil. That has to change. NUKEM has the expertise to support both new reactors and the safe decommissioning of old plants. This combination is rare and was very attractive to us.

Thomas Seipolt: At this point, I would like to briefly add what we are currently doing in the field of new reactor technologies. I already mentioned small modular reactors – SMRs are a game changer for the nuclear industry. They are smaller, more flexible, quicker to build and potentially safer than conventional large reactors. With the current interest in small modular reactors, our expertise in fuel manufacturing is also becoming relevant again, for example in TRISO fuel elements for high-temperature reactors. NUKEM already developed and produced this technology in the 1960s to 1980s – for reactors such as the AVR in Jülich and the THTR in Hamm. This know-how has never been lost. We are one of the few players worldwide who have mastered this technology.

For us, this means that we can contribute our expertise in fuel element production, engineering and, later on, decommissioning. SMRs will be a growing market over the next 10 to 20 years, and we want to be there from the start.

J-BIG: So for Muroosystems, this is an investment in the future. How does NUKEM view the takeover?

Thomas Seipolt: Before the takeover by Muroosystems, we had a Russian owner: since 2013, NUKEM had been part of ROSATOM, the Russian state-owned corporation. At the time, this was a logical decision: ROSATOM is one of the largest players in the global nuclear industry. We benefited from this network and had access to international projects, especially in Eastern Europe and Asia.

But when the war in Ukraine began in 2022, that changed dramatically. As a German limited company, we were not directly affected by the sanctions, but many Western customers were no longer able or willing to work with a Russian state-owned company. New orders dried up, and it became virtually impossible to develop new business. The workforce shrank from over 120 employees at times to fewer than 100, and there was no sign of improvement. For NUKEM, it was therefore a necessary step to change ownership. We are very pleased to have found an owner in Muroosystems who not only ensures financial stability but also shares our vision for the future of nuclear energy.

Nobuaki Ninomiya: Muroosystems’ view is as follows: every potential business venture involves two risks. On the one hand, there is of course the risk that the investment in NUKEM will not pay off. This risk can never be completely ruled out. But on the other hand, there is another risk, namely that in a few years’ time we will look back and regret not having seized this opportunity. After gaining an insight into NUKEM’s expertise and strengths, this seemed to us to be the greater risk.

Thomas Seipolt: We are both firmly convinced that our expertise in the field of nuclear power perfectly complements Muroosystems’ portfolio. At NUKEM, we are therefore delighted to have found an owner who not only restores financial stability, but also shares our vision for the future of the nuclear industry. 

J-BIG: The change from a Russian to a Japanese owner is certainly also a major cultural change. How is the cooperation at this level going?

Nobuaki Ninomiya: Muroosystems is a very international company, so I have travelled to many countries on business. But when it comes to quality, Germany clearly stands out. I have great respect for the logical thinking and precision that is also reflected in German brands such as Porsche and BMW. I love these cars. In my experience, Germans think in a similar way: they value logic and numbers and less so the interpersonal level. That’s very different in Japan. And then, of course, there are other differences: for me as a Japanese person, for example, it was very surprising how many public holidays there are in Germany! These details don’t always make cooperation easy. But once we’ve adjusted to these different working cultures, things run smoothly. At least, that’s my impression.

Thomas Seipolt: NUKEM generates almost 80 per cent of its revenue abroad, in many different countries. More than a quarter of our employees do not have a German passport or grew up outside Germany. We are very used to cooperating with other cultures and countries. In Germany, the business culture is very direct – alongside Switzerland, we are leaders in this respect. In Japan, it’s much more about reading between the lines. These differences didn’t surprise us, but you have to navigate them correctly. To this end, we have published a series of articles on the intranet about the peculiarities of Japanese culture and history. This has been very well received by the workforce.

In addition, Nobuaki-san and a number of Muroosystems engineers spent several months here with us in Germany to get to know each other and discuss technical issues with their colleagues here in Germany. This was very successful: the knowledge and experience gained was taken back to the headquarters in Japan. And at the operational level, people who do similar jobs on both sides talk to each other on a daily basis. We were curious about each other – and still are.

J-BIG: Do these cultural differences also extend to how nuclear technology is perceived by the general public?

Thomas Seipolt: The situation of the nuclear industry in Germany is quite unique. After the disaster in Fukushima, a number of countries announced their withdrawal from nuclear technology – but only Germany has stuck to it to this day. The Swedes have decided to return to nuclear energy, and the Italians are at least considering it. The background to this is the realisation that CO2 emissions cannot be sufficiently reduced by renewable energies alone. In our view, nuclear energy remains an indispensable component here.

In Germany, the nuclear debate is ideologically driven. Historically, the background was actually resistance to the possibility of nuclear war – this then turned into a fight against nuclear power in general. I am not aware of this emotionally charged discussion in any other country – not even in Japan. Yet that country has experienced atomic bombings and a real nuclear disaster.

Nevertheless, the Japanese have not completely abandoned nuclear power; they take a more pragmatic view. As far as I recall, the country has 54 nuclear power plants. Some of them were shut down after Fukushima, but that was not a decision against nuclear energy, but a decision in favour of safer nuclear operation of the existing plants. A memorandum was issued to determine whether the plants were adequately equipped to withstand natural disasters. Abandoning nuclear power for good was never a serious option. The Japanese want to replace the old nuclear power plants that are reaching the end of their operating life with more efficient ones featuring newer technologies – safer, more efficient and easier to operate.

J-BIG: Mr Ninomiya, what is your perspective as a Japanese citizen? Why is Japan open to nuclear technology despite its terrible experiences?

Nobuaki Ninomiya: With the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan probably has more traumatic experiences with nuclear power than any other country. I myself was born in Hakata, not far from Nagasaki. I often think that I would not be here today if the bomb had taken a slightly different course.

Nevertheless, as Thomas Seipolt mentioned, we are strictly pragmatic when it comes to nuclear power. Japan is an island nation with many mountains. It has no large oil or coal deposits. This means that we have no natural energy resources. And the period after the Second World War taught Japan how precarious our situation is when we are dependent on energy imports from abroad.  

After the tragedy in Fukushima, some nuclear power plants were shut down; currently, 22 reactors in Japan are suspended. But suspended does not mean shut down – these reactors continue to run at idle speed. So they produce 20 to 30 per cent of the costs without supplying any energy. There is therefore industrial and monetary pressure to gradually reactivate nuclear power plants. The alternative would be to continue buying oil and gas from other countries – and Japan wants to avoid that at all costs. This is a completely different situation from that in other countries. For us, nuclear energy is not just an export tool, but a matter of national security. 

J-BIG: Against this backdrop, how do you see the future of NUKEM?

Nobuaki Ninomiya: We have a clear three-step plan: The first step is to consolidate and stabilise our existing business. Here, we need to rebuild what we have, but also catch up with the latest requirements that have arisen, for example, through the use of AI since the start of the war in Ukraine. In doing so, we are focusing on our core markets of Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia and rebuilding our existing customer base.

In the second stage, we want to drive forward expansion in Europe and, above all, in Southeast Asia. In Japan, there are already a handful of established players in this area, but markets such as Taiwan and South Korea still have a lot of potential.

The third stage is more about expanding our existing portfolio. For example, we are considering extending our expertise in nuclear waste disposal to chemical waste. Specifically, we also want to further develop the business around TRISO and SMR and make it an important part of our overall strategy. But that is a topic for the next few years – first, we need to revive our existing business and put the insolvency behind us.

Thomas Seipolt: This step is already in full swing. Many of our customers have indicated that they would like to resume business now that we have a new owner. They made it very clear that NUKEM itself was never the issue, but rather the Russian ownership. We are currently working on this, and developments are positive. The number of employees has also risen again.

We also consider ourselves well positioned in the field of small modular reactors. We believe in the SMR business, but it has not yet been decided who will win the competition. There are more than 300 SMR projects worldwide, and no one can say which 10 companies will ultimately dominate the market. However, around 30 per cent of all SMR projects are based on TRISO particle technology – and we are one of the few companies worldwide that has references and experience in this field. So there is every reason to be optimistic.

Nobuaki Ninomiya: We have a clear idea of where we want this journey to take us. But as with any journey, we will certainly encounter things along the way that we did not expect. So we must remain open to replanning the route. Not everything can be predicted – but then again, that’s exactly what makes the journey so exciting.