Low-enriched uranium reserves to appear in Siberia
Russia plans to create guaranteed reserves of low-enriched uranium worth up to $300 million at an international nuclear center in Angarsk, East Siberia, Russia`s nuclear chief said Tuesday.
"Russia intends to establish guaranteed reserves of up to two loads of nuclear fuel (low-enriched uranium) for a 1,000MW reactor," Sergei Kiriyenko told the 51st International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference.
A fuel load of slightly more than 80 metric tons for a pressurized water reactor costs some $150 million.
The Russian nuclear official said the international center would handle the storage of low-enriched uranium reserves to be supplied upon the IAEA`s request.
The Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex is the regional economic mainstay and the main asset of the newly established international uranium enrichment center, which is completing its registration with the IAEA. Kiriyenko said the center had been established to supply enriched uranium to third countries planning to develop global nuclear energy and get access to uranium enrichment "with no political restrictions."
"Our proposal to create guaranteed reserves of low-enriched uranium at the international center in Angarsk will be a step towards establishing the next-generation nuclear energy infrastructure," the Russian nuclear chief said.
The latest reports said Russia`s newly appointed Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov signed instructions earlier in the day to allocate 23 million rubles ($908,000) for the IAEA`s extra-budgetary fund later this year.
The sum will be contributed from the Russian Nuclear Energy Agency`s federal funds, "with a view to assisting the implementation of an IAEA international project on innovation nuclear reactors and fuel cycles," the document reads.
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