Sergey Kirienko says that production of centrifuges at the Kovrov plant is to quadruple in the next several years.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Russia Anxious to Increase its Share in Uranium Enrichment Market
Russia is set to quadruple the production of centrifuges at Kovrov Mechanical Factory, a top nuclear official said late last week. The nuclear agency is also shaping the state-run holding to control all nuclear production in the country, a move that President Vladimir Putin is likely to sign into a degree this week.
President Vladimir Putin may sign a decree to create the state-owned nuclear production holding, Atomenergoprom, following his annual address, Kommersant learnt from a source in the Russian nuclear industry.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov and Atomic Energy Agency head Sergey Kirienko visited Kovrov Mechanical Plant on Friday, discussing the creation of another giant holding that would design, produce and launch gas centrifuges.
The Russian Centrifuge project is run by state-owned Tekhsnabexport, a corporation which sells uranium and uranium enrichment services. Tekhsnabexport has recently bought the plant in Kovrov, one of Russia’s two centrifuge-producing facilities. The chief of the Russian nuclear energy agency announced Friday that production of centrifuges at the Kovrov plant is to quadruple in the next several years. The plant will also host several additional productions for the nuclear energy which will increase the factory’s profitability from 6 to 17 percent, according to Mr. Kirienko.
Deputy head of Tekhsnabexport Valery Govorukhin says that the total world capacity of uranium enrichment is 38 million SWU, to go up to 50 million by 2020. Russia’s share in the market is less than 40 percent. Russian top officials do not hide plans to make Russia a leader in centrifuge production.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 23, 2007
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