10 Sep (NucNet): Australia is ready to supply Russia with at least 4,000 tonnes of uranium a year under the terms of a nuclear energy cooperation agreement signed last week between Australia and Russia in Sydney.
Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), said in a statement on Rosatom’s website he is negotiating possible contracts with Australia.
Mr Kiriyenko said the cooperation agreement, which still has to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries, will make Russia independent of any specific supplier and improve its competitiveness on the global nuclear market.
A previous agreement signed in 1990 stipulated that Australian uranium supplied to Russia could be enriched for third countries only.
Aleksei Grigoryev, acting director-general of Russia’s state-owned nuclear fuel cycle company Techsnabexport (Tenex), said the agreement could result in additional contracts for the company of up to three billion US dollars (about two billion euro).
He said security of domestic supply would help Tenex develop its low-enriched uranium exports to Japan, the US and Europe.
In January 2007, Australia and China ratified a similar agreement paving the way for Australia’s uranium producers to begin exports to China.
More recently, Australia announced a decision to change its foreign policy to allow the export of uranium to India, but only subject to a number of strict conditions.
According to a government report into the uranium industry published in December 2006, Australia possesses some 36 percent of the world’s reasonably assured resources of uranium recoverable at low cost.
However, Australia only accounts for 23 percent of world production and lags behind Canada, which has less than half Australia’s resources in this category.
