17 June 2004 20:51
Russia to export low-enriched uranium worth 500m dollars to USA in 2004
Moscow, 17 June: Russia is to deliver low-enriched uranium worth 500m dollars to the USA in 2004 to enable the
production of fuel for US nuclear power stations as part of the high-and low-enriched uranium programme, Russia's
Federal Agency for Atomic Energy told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday [16 June].
"For over a decade Russia's atomic energy companies, which process high-enriched uranium extracted from
nuclear warheads, have delivered low-enriched uranium worth approximately 0.5bn dollars to the USA every year, and 2004
will not be an exception," a spokesperson with the agency said.
A source with Russia's Tekhsnabeksport noted that "the Russian-American agreement on high and low-enriched
uranium has been implemented for a decade, and Russia has added 4bn dollars to its budget as a result. Over this period,
200 tonnes of uranium from missiles has been processed, the equivalent of 8,000 nuclear warheads."
The same source emphasized that "half of the nuclear power stations in the USA currently use uranium extracted
from Soviet-made missiles".
"At present 40 per cent of the high and low-enriched uranium programme has been implemented, which is the
equivalent of 2,500bn kWh of electricity", the agency said.
Russia's nuclear engineers believe that "successful implementation of the programme enables Russia to
sustain its 40-per-cent share on the world's enriched uranium market".
The high and low-enriched uranium programme will remain in place till 2013, by which time 20,000 warheads will have
been destroyed, the agency's spokesperson said.
[Prime-TASS news agency] |
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