According to the state company Energoatom, Ukrainian uranium will be used to produce nuclear fuel for the needs of domestic nuclear power plants at Cameco facilities in Canada.
It is noted that the agreement with Cameco is for the entire volume of uranium extracted from the Eastern Mining and Enrichment Plant to be sent to Canada for its further conversion into natural uranium hexafluoride (UF6). This is necessary before sending it for enrichment to Ukraine’s other strategic partners, URENCO and Westinghouse, for nuclear fuel production.
“These processes for processing nuclear material are not yet available in Ukraine. But we are working on creating appropriate capacities,” emphasized President of Energoatom Petro Kotin. The contract also allows for the supply of the Zaporizhzhia NPP with uranium hexafluoride as soon as Ukraine regains control over the nuclear plant.
The energy minister, German Galushchenko, emphasized that Ukraine works to increase uranium production for its needs and to oust Russia from world markets.