2000 t uranium production in 1998 RUSSIA Russia was on course to produce 2000 t of uranium in 1998, about as much as in 1997, representatives of the state-owned Geologorazvedka centre said at the sixth Mining and Geological Forum on CIS Natural Resources in St Petersburg.
In 1997 Russia’s 29 nuclear reactors used approximately 3800 tonnes of uranium. Stockpiled uranium was used to make good the deficit and for exports. Some 2200 tonnes are exported to nuclear plants in eastern Europe under old Soviet agreements. Russia’s only operating uranium producer, the Priargunskoye Mining and Chemicals Production Association, develops the Streltsovskoye orefield in the Zabaikalsky (Trans-Baikal) which has 16 deposits containing some 171 000 tU, of which 43% can be mined profitably if the uranium sells for at least $40 per kilogram. World prices currently range from $38 to $42.
Annual production of 10 000 tonnes of uranium targeted by MINATOM for 2010 will be unattainable without building new processing centres, according to Geologorazvedka.
