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Uranium giant to appear in Russia
Russia's Federal Nuclear Power Agency (Rosatom) is planning to create the third largest uranium producer in the world, based on the uranium assets of the state-owned nuclear fuel suppliers TVEL and Techsnabexport. To achieve this goal, Rosatom is prepared to allow private ownership of nuclear products, also letting foreign investors into nuclear business.
The founding documents for the new company, which will unite the uranium assets of TVEL and Techsnabexport (TSE), will be signed on Thursday, and it will be registered over the next two months. For a period of “up to one year” all these assets will be in trust management of the new company. Once Atomprom, a holding company to control all of the country’s nuclear assets, is created, the company will become part of Atomprom. The new uranium company will become one of the world’s top five uranium producers, a source in TSE told RBC Daily.
TVEL and TSE have refused to comment on the issue. But sources in TVEL confirmed that their company was expected to transfer three uranium mines to the new uranium company – Khiagda, Priargunskoye and Dalur. And the insider in TSE said his company would contribute the Elkon uranium field in Yakutia and a stake in the Russian-Kyrgyz-Kazakh Zarechnoye field.
The new uranium firm could also include Yuzhoye Zarechye and Budennovskoye uranium fields in Kazakhstan. TSE is also in talks to open uranium production in Uzbekistan.
The new company may enter the world’s uranium market and hold an IPO in future. The source in TSE told RBC Daily that the nuclear energy bill could be amended soon. He said licenses could be introduced for private ownership of nuclear materials, though it is unclear which government agency will issue these licenses. “It could be the Natural Resources Ministry, Rosatom or the Federal Agency for Management of Mineral Resources (Rosnedra),” he noted, adding that the new company might sell stakes to western investors.
“Perhaps, Japan’s Mitsui, which has agreements with TSE to finance the Elkon project, could be offered a minor stake in the new uranium company,” the insider said. Among other candidates he named Canada’s Cameco and Australia’s BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Techsnabexport General Director Vladimir Smirnov reported about TSE’s talks with Cameco on Tuesday, and yesterday he spoke of negotiations with the Australian firms. He said preliminary discussions had been held during a visit of Techsnabexport’s delegation to Australia on 13-20 October.
Experts are not surprised that a conservative attitude to private and foreign ownership of nuclear assets is fading away. Vyacheslav Zhabin, an analyst at BrokerCreditService, says Rosatom needs the single uranium producer to ensure the construction of nuclear power plants in Russia and abroad. Indeed, uranium projects are expensive, and attracting private investment seems to be the only way to boost uranium enrichment and solve the uranium deficit problem.
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