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NUCLEAR
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Russia to sell old nuclear weapon uranium directly
[The following is an excerpt of an article distributed
by Reuters reproduced
in part here under the Fair Use Act..]
10:22 p.m. Dec 11, 1997 Eastern
By Adam Tanner
MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russia's Atomic Ministry on Thursday announced its intention to terminate a recent 10-year contract with the United States and instead sell its uranium from dismantled nuclear weapons directly on world markets.
The decision could bring Russia $300 million to $500 million more than if it had continued the contract, officials said, but it could cause concern because the West would have less control over the sale of commercial-grade uranium.
``We will work with any firm in any country -- in France, Canada, with whomever -- but we will not accept discriminatory, unprofitable conditions for Russia,'' First Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Belosokhov told a news conference.
He was referring to an agreement in principle which Russia signed in August to sell its uranium through a recently privatised U.S.-based group to Canadian mining company Cameco Corp, Cogema of France and Nukem Inc of the United States at discounted prices.
``In practice, the deal excluded Russia from sales on the world market,'' Belosokhov said. ``It meant that Russia could stand to lose $300 million to $500 million.''
``Thus it is necessary for Russia to go to the world market independently,'' he said.
Russian officials said they expected western Europe, North America and southeast Asia to be the main buyers of the uranium.
Asked if rogue countries would gain easy access to the uranium, Albert Shishkin, director of Tekhsnabexport, a Russian government entity handling uranium sales, said Moscow would strictly comply with international regulations on such sales.
The August agreement had its origins in a 1994 deal with the United States, under which Russian weapons-grade uranium would be diluted to commercial grade for U.S. nuclear energy plants with a company called United States Enrichment Corp handling the details.
The original $12 billion agreement called for the United States to buy about 15,000 tonnes of low-enriched uranium converted from 500 tonnes of weapons-grade uranium over 20 years. Under the deal Russia would also process the uranium.
[snipped]
That uranium would have been delivered to U.S. Enrichment, but sold to Cameco, Cogema and Nukem.
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