10 Nov (NucNet): Kazakhstan is to take part in the building of nuclear power plants in China as part of a new strategic partnership.

The president of Kazakhstan�s state-owned Kazatomprom Moukhtar Dzhakishev told a press conference in Almaty on 6 November 2008 that the company would also supply natural uranium to China.

He said Kazatomprom will form joint venture companies with China�s Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) and the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) under agreements signed in the Kazakh capital of Astana on 31 October 2008:

� Kazatomprom and CGNPC will jointly develop uranium deposits at Irkol, in Kazakhstan�s Kyzylordinskaya region (estimated annual production capacity of 750 tonnes U3O8) and Semizbay in the Akmolinskaya region (estimated annual production capacity of 500 tonnes U3O8);

� CNNC will jointly develop deposits with Kazatomprom at Zhalpak in the south of the country (estimated annual production capacity of 750 tonnes U3O8).

Kazatomprom will own 51 per cent of shares in both joint ventures with 49 per cent held by Chinese partners. Kazatomprom said it plans to open an office in Beijing to speed up implementation of the projects.

Mr Dzhakishev said: �Kazatomprom will be engaged in a totally new and promising type of activity � the construction of nuclear power plants.�

He also gave details of talks with Kazatomprom executives last month about the global economic downturn. Mr Dzhakishev said Kazatomprom would be unaffected. He said the company�s recent integration into Kazakhstan�s state-controlled national welfare fund, Samruk-Kazyna, offered opportunities for �secured financing� for new projects while mitigating risk.

Kazakhstan, which is the third biggest producer of uranium in the world after Australia and Canada, plans to become the largest by 2010, increasing production from around 3,749 tonnes of uranium in 2004 to as much as 15,000 tonnes annually in 2010.

� by John Shepherd

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