07-11-2008, 12:40 AM
Pioneer, 11 July 2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Russia stocks up on uranium
Tatyana Sinitsyna on Moscow's rush to beat others in the queue
<b>Russia has overtaken Niger to become the world's fourth largest uranium producer, after Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Russia received its new rating in 2007, when it produced 3,527 tonnes of uranium.</b> It has ambitious plans to mover even further up the league, based on promising deposits in eastern Siberia and other regions, and opportunities for mutually advantageous cooperation with countries rich in uranium ore.
<b>Today, the uranium market is characterised by a high level of monopolisation -- three-fourths of all uranium is produced by five countries. Having placed its stake on nuclear energy, Russia has no choice but to replenish its uranium reserves. In 2006, Russia launched cooperation with Kazakhstan. It owns 49 per cent shares in the Zarechnoye joint venture which is in charge of a 19,000-tonne uranium deposit.</b> Last year, Russia signed a <b>bilateral agreement with Australia, which will supply it with $ 1 million worth of uranium for civilian purposes every year.</b>
<b>Russia has also set up joint ventures with Canada's Cameco Corporation to undertake uranium prospecting and extraction in both countries. Potential for uranium production has also been assessed in Armenia; and Russia and Armenia have signed an agreement on uranium prospecting and production.</b> Mongolia may also occupy a major place in the global nuclear industry. In theory, its untapped uranium resources are the largest in the world.
Meanwhile, Russia has to supply uranium to nuclear power plants that were built abroad in Soviet times, and it also has to execute contracts for uranium enrichment and processing. <b>If we take into account all these factors, the gap between demand and supply adds up to 6,000 tonnes a year. Russia currently makes up for the shortfall with uranium from 'secondary reserves' -- depots of fissionable material, converted nuclear weapons, and so-called 'depleted uranium tails' (uranium ore used twice). But these secondary reserves, which every nuclear power has stockpiled since the start of the nuclear era, will last no more than 15 years.</b>
The world is not short of uranium. On the contrary, nature has preordained a future atomic renaissance. Experts believe that there are billions of tonnes of uranium ore in the entrails of the earth -- much more than silver or mercury.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Russia stocks up on uranium
Tatyana Sinitsyna on Moscow's rush to beat others in the queue
<b>Russia has overtaken Niger to become the world's fourth largest uranium producer, after Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Russia received its new rating in 2007, when it produced 3,527 tonnes of uranium.</b> It has ambitious plans to mover even further up the league, based on promising deposits in eastern Siberia and other regions, and opportunities for mutually advantageous cooperation with countries rich in uranium ore.
<b>Today, the uranium market is characterised by a high level of monopolisation -- three-fourths of all uranium is produced by five countries. Having placed its stake on nuclear energy, Russia has no choice but to replenish its uranium reserves. In 2006, Russia launched cooperation with Kazakhstan. It owns 49 per cent shares in the Zarechnoye joint venture which is in charge of a 19,000-tonne uranium deposit.</b> Last year, Russia signed a <b>bilateral agreement with Australia, which will supply it with $ 1 million worth of uranium for civilian purposes every year.</b>
<b>Russia has also set up joint ventures with Canada's Cameco Corporation to undertake uranium prospecting and extraction in both countries. Potential for uranium production has also been assessed in Armenia; and Russia and Armenia have signed an agreement on uranium prospecting and production.</b> Mongolia may also occupy a major place in the global nuclear industry. In theory, its untapped uranium resources are the largest in the world.
Meanwhile, Russia has to supply uranium to nuclear power plants that were built abroad in Soviet times, and it also has to execute contracts for uranium enrichment and processing. <b>If we take into account all these factors, the gap between demand and supply adds up to 6,000 tonnes a year. Russia currently makes up for the shortfall with uranium from 'secondary reserves' -- depots of fissionable material, converted nuclear weapons, and so-called 'depleted uranium tails' (uranium ore used twice). But these secondary reserves, which every nuclear power has stockpiled since the start of the nuclear era, will last no more than 15 years.</b>
The world is not short of uranium. On the contrary, nature has preordained a future atomic renaissance. Experts believe that there are billions of tonnes of uranium ore in the entrails of the earth -- much more than silver or mercury.
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