Kazakhstan to exchange uranium mine shares for Chinese nuclear powerproject stakes
SHANGHAI. Nov 22 (Interfax-China) - The president of Kazakhstan's
state-run nuclear power company Kazatomprom has revealed that the
company intends to swap some of its shares in a uranium mine in exchange
for stakes in Chinese nuclear power projects, local media reported.
According to China Business News, Kazatomprom president Mukhtar
Dzhakishev said recently that Kazatomprom will give China National
Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd.
(CGNPC) a combined 49% stake in a Kazakh uranium mine company in return
for stakes in unspecified nuclear fuel processing facilities or nuclear
power plants in China. Kazatomprom will retain a controlling 51% stake
in the uranium mine.
Lu Gang, a senior researcher with the Shanghai Institute for
International Studies (SIIS), told Interfax that the move could show
that Kazakhstan may intend to develop its own nuclear power industry.
Uranium imports are obviously critical for China as it continues to push
forward with its ambitious nuclear power development plans, under which
it aims to attain an installed nuclear power capacity of 40,000
megawatts by 2020. If the country is successful, it's annual uranium
demand is expected to reach 7,000 tonnes by 2020.
Some researchers have told Interfax that China will still need to
source at least some uranium from overseas in order to fuel its nuclear
power plants in the future, and that up to 30% percent of the country's
uranium demands will have to be met by imports by 2020.
Li Junjie, the director of the China Atomic Energy Authority's
uranium material department, told China Business News that if China
hopes to meet two-thirds of its uranium demand in 2020 with domestically
production uranium, some RMB 7 billion to RMB 8 billion ($0.95 billion
to $1.08 billion) needs to be invested in supportive exploration
activities between now and then.
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