Ukraine and Russia to resume cooperation on uranium production
Ukraine and Russia have signed a contract on the delivery and processing of raw uranium materials. Russian TASS news agency reported that this was announced by the Director of the International Centre for Uranium Enrichment, Gleb Yefremov.
Ukrainian State Enterprise, Yaderne Palyvo, will send its uranium to Russia for enrichment, and it will be subsequently used for its nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
“The contract was approved by the shareholders at a meeting held on the 31st of July, and has come into effect. We are now proceeding with the execution of the contract and are waiting for the notice from our Ukrainian partners stating that the raw concentrate has been shipped to us,” Yefremov explained.
The delivery date for the uranium was not confirmed, but the terms of the contract state that it should happen in the fourth quarter of this year.
The volume of the uranium enrichment services which will be provided to Ukraine will remain at the same level, which is 60,000 separative work units (SWU).
During the last four years, the cost of commercial supplies of enriched uranium for Ukrainian nuclear power plants has exceeded $25 million.
According to RIA Novosti, Ukraine has begun paying Russia for the utilized nuclear fuel of its nuclear power plants, which will be stored and reprocessed there. “Everything now has to be renewed. Ukraine started paying these funds approximately a month and a half ago but now the schedule has changed,” the source said.
The source added that despite the delay that occurred, both countries will try to fulfill the annual plan for importing Ukrainian fuel into Russia.
In April this year, Russia said that US fuel is not suitable for Ukraine’s nuclear power stations and that it is dangerous to use it.
It was previously reported that in 2015, Ukraine purchased $643.5 million worth of nuclear fuel, of which most was imported from Russia.
British newspaper, The Guardian, wrote that the environmentalists and nuclear energy experts are sounding the alarm with regard to how and where nuclear waste at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station, is stored.