Kazakhstan is considering possibly taking back some nuclear assets from joint ventures (JVs), President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a meeting with the president of national atomic company (NAC) Kazatomprom Askar Zhumagaliev. "NAC Kazatomprom holds interests in different joint ventures, in some of which the partners fail to meet the commitments they undertook. In this regard, it is necessary either to ensure that they meet those commitments or consider the possibility of returning the assets to the state," Nazarbayev said.
Companies with shares in joint uranium mining enterprises in Kazakhstan include: Japanese Sumitomo Co and Kansai Electric Power Co, China's Beijing Sino-Kaz Uranium Resources Investment Company Ltd, Canadian Uranium One Inc (controlled by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom) and its affiliates, France's Areva, Canada's Cameco Co, as well as Energy Asia (BVI) Ltd (a consortium of Japanese companies). Kazakhstan produced 23,800t of uranium last year. Kazatomprom's share of total output was 13,000t while its JV partners accounted for the remainder.
In addition, Kazatomprom has interests in JVs involved in the nuclear fuel cycle including: JSC Uranium Enrichment Centre (which holds shares in Russia's Urals Electrochemical Combine), JSC International Uranium Enrichment Centre (IUEC), JV IFASTAR (Areva - 51%), CJSC Ukrainian-Kazakh-Russian Joint Venture for Production of Nuclear Fuel (UkrTVS).
