Kazakh, Russian FMs discuss establishment of joint uranium enrichment center
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan hopes that an agreement with Russia on the
establishment of a joint uranium enrichment centre will be fully
implemented, Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov said during the
meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
"We have a vast cooperation in nuclear energy," Idrisov said. "We
want to work together on the entire nuclear fuel cycle taking into
consideration the capacity of the Kazakh, Ulbinsk metallurgical
plant. Moreover, we have agreed to establish a joint centre for
uranium enrichment. We hope that these agreements will be fully
implemented,"
TVEL is a part of a vertically integrated structure of the
Russian nuclear industry. TVEL incorporates business and scientific
assets for a fuel fabrication, separation-sublimate complex as well
as facilities for manufacturing gas centrifuges and their
equipment.
Kazatomprom is the Kazakh national operator for the import and
export of uranium and its compounds, rare metals, nuclear fuel for
power plants, special equipment, technologies and dual-use
materials.
The company's main activities include geological exploration, uranium production, output of nuclear fuel cycle products, construction of reactors and nuclear power plants, non-ferrous metallurgy and production of construction materials, power industry, science, social welfare and personnel training.
Earlier Idrisov said during his meeting with Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano that Kazakhstan intends to attract IAEA experts to implementation of its plans on development of nuclear industry and peaceful nuclear technologies.
Kazakhstan holds the second large uranium reserves in the world. Kazatomprom reported earlier that around 5,590 tons of uranium was produced in Kazakhstan in the second quarter of 2013, which exceeds the same period of 2012 by 9 percent.