More cooperation in nuclear energy
Sumitomo is seeking to increase its supply of the metals used in hybrid and other environmentally friendly vehicles, the report said.
For the first half of the current year Kazatomprom exceeded uranium production plans by 9%. Total uranium production volume in Kazakhstan surpassed 6,000 tU which is 57% more than in the corresponding period of 2008. Drilling activity plan for the first half of the year was also exceeded. About 8,000 tU are planned to be produced in Kazakhstan in next 6 months.
Production figures for the first half of the year confirm the statements of the company's senior management that Company's activity is not going to be cardinally changed. «We keep realizing all our plans and performing our commitments», said Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazatomprom President.
The priority task for Kazatomprom is still the establishment of vertically integrated company having all stages of nuclear fuel cycle and producing the final product of high value added.
Thus, at the moment the preliminary technical and economic assessment of the joint Kazakhstan-Canadian project on UF6 production is carried out in the frame of JV Ulba Conversion (Kazatomprom - 51%, Cameco - 49%).
AREVA continues to transfer fuel fabrication technology to Kazatomprom for the reactors of French design. During the forthcoming visit of the President Nickolas Sarkozy to Kazakhstan in October 2009, the joint venture's foundation documents are supposed to be signed.
Besides, qualification of fuel pellets for the reactors of Japan, USA and China is carried out and this will allow Kazatomprom expand its presence on the world fuel market.
Another strategic direction for Kazatomprom is building foundation for the development of nuclear power in the Republic of Kazakhstan. There has been a big progress reached in the implementation with the Russian partners the joint project on design of nuclear reactor facility, VBER-300, in Aktau. At the moment an intergovernmental agreement is being prepared for signing. The company intends not just to construct the NPP in Kazakhstan based on the power units of VBER-300 type but to start export of such reactor facilities to the other countries.
As for Kazatomprom's cooperation with Chinese companies, the feasibility study is being carried out for the joint project with the Chinese Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) on the construction of NPPs in China. More specific decisions are to be taken based on the results of this feasibility study.
Kazatomprom's export plans are connected with the intentions of many countries to actively develop the nuclear power in the nearest 20-30 years. China is planning to construct more than 150 nuclear power units by 2030 out of 500 ones planned to be built in the world.
Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, EU keep building NPPs. Leaders of such countries as Germany, the USA and the Great Britain declared their intentions to review in the nearest future the power balance in favor of nuclear power. These are all the potential markets for Kazakhstan fuel. Moreover the strategic role of uranium raw materials in the world in the near term will increase with the power moving to the environmentally sound one, the press service of the Kazakh Embassy in New-Delhi reports.