Kazakhstan’s National Nuclear Company Kazatomprom and Czech power company ČEZ have signed a contract for the supply of Kazakhstani natural uranium concentrate for Czech NPPs. Over the next seven years, the supply of Kazakhstani uranium will cover about a third of the uranium needs for the manufacture of Westinghouse fuel assemblies used at the Temelín NPP.
ČEZ operates six nuclear reactors at two sites – Dukovany and Temelín. The Czech Republic currently gets about one-third of its electricity from two VVER-1000 units in operation at Temelín and four VVER-440 units at Dukovany.
Kazatomprom said the agreement “marks a significant expansion of the presence of Kazatomprom in Europe and helps strengthen the Company’s position in the global uranium market”. The official signing ceremony took place at ČEZ in Prague. Kazatomprom the agreement is a logical continuation of the strategic partnership it is developing around the world, seeking to diversify sales channels.
“With this new agreement, Kazatomprom continues to grow its footprint in the European market and advance its strategy of diversifying sales portfolio, said Vladislav Baiguzhin, Chief Commercial Officer at Kazatomprom. “This is another important milestone in our mission to be a partner of choice for the global nuclear energy industry. As we build on our previous contracts, partnerships such as this one with ČEZ allow us to support energy security in the region while advancing our shared goals of decarbonisation and sustainability.”
Bohdan Zronek, Board Member and head of the Nuclear Energy Division at ČEZ, said: “Securing a partnership with Kazatomprom diversifies our portfolio of suppliers and have strategic importance for ČEZ and Czech Republic. It ensures that our nuclear power plants will continue to have a stable and reliable source of fuel, which is essential for meeting our energy needs and driving our decarbonisation plan (VIZE 2030) to achieve net-zero goals.”
Fuel assemblies for ČEZ’s NPPs were previously supplied by Russia’s TVEL. They are now being supplied by US Westinghouse and France’s Framatome, which buy the uranium on the world market and then contract other companies (Urenco and Orano) to enrich it.
