Ukraine’s nuclear operator, UK’s Urenco Group agree on uranium supplies
A stela in the form of the abbreviation "NPP" near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (Photo:REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom and the UK Urenco Group have agreed that the latter would supply Ukraine with enriched uranium starting from 2026, the nuclear operator reported on Dec. 19.
The agreement was reached during an online meeting between the companies’ heads, Petro Kotin and Boris Schucht, respectively. They discussed the issue of increasing the supply of enriched uranium to the Westing-house company to produce nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants during 2024-2025, Energoatom said.
“The heads of the companies have agreed on long-term cooperation in the field of supplying enriched uranium to Energoatom from 2026,” the report says.
The Urenco company is engaged in enriching uranium (using gas centrifuge technology) for use as fuel at nuclear power plants. It has facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Urenco supplies fuel for nuclear power plants in 15 countries, mainly to Europe and the United States. Its share is about 29% of the world market for uranium enrichment services.
A third of the company is owned by the UK government, a third belongs to the Netherlands’ government, and the rest is owned by the German energy companies E.ON and RWE in equal shares.
In April 2022, Energoatom announced it was giving up Russian uranium for nuclear power plants and would consider increasing purchases from Urenco.
Earlier, Energoatom said Ukraine would have enough nuclear fuel reserves for the next two years.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
