Russia to open intl. nuclear center in Siberia by year-end
26/10/2006 13:29 MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - An international uranium enrichment center constructed by Russia and Kazakhstan in eastern Siberia will start operating by the end of 2006, the head of the Russian nuclear agency said Thursday.
"Russia and Kazakhstan are planning to finish preparations for opening an international uranium enrichment center in Angarsk, and it will start operating by the end of the year," Sergei Kiriyenko said.
President Vladimir Putin had proposed the idea of international uranium enrichment centers at the beginning of the year, as a means of calming international tensions over Iran's nuclear problem.
Earlier in October, Russia and Kazakhstan established their first joint venture to enrich uranium in Angarsk, near Irkutsk, about 5,000 km (3,100 miles) east of Moscow.
The city "has always been connected with the nuclear sector's civilian side. The enterprise in Angarsk can be put under IAEA control, and it has additional reserve capacities," Kiriyenko said then.
Kazakhstan holds 15% of the world's uranium reserves and has an expanding mining sector, which aims to hit at an annual production of 15,000 tons of uranium by 2010. Under the Soviet system, Russia and Kazakhstan shared a nuclear power infrastructure under the Ministry of Medium Machine Building.
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