Russia receives first uranium shipment from Australia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia has received the first shipment of uranium from Australia under a 2007 bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, a spokesman for Russian uranium enrichment concern Siberian Chemical Combine said, according to RIA Novosti.

The delivery of uranium from Energy Resources of Australia Ltd to Tomsk Region's Siberian Chemical Combine, one of Russia's four uranium enrichment plants, was made on Dec 3, but only reported on Monday, Dec 10. The spokesman did not specify the volume of the shipment.

Energy Resources of Australia and state-run Russian nuclear fuel exporter Tekhsnabexport had made a pilot delivery of uranium to Russia last month.

“After it is processed, Tekhsnabexport will deliver the low-enriched uranium to an operating nuclear power plant abroad,” the spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

The deliveries are being made under the agreement on nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes signed by President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney in 2007.

Siberian Chemical Combine's parent company TVEL is part of the nuclear state corporation Rosatom. Tekhsnabexport, also a Rosatom company, is a leading supplier of uranium products to the US, Japan, China and South Korea, among others.