Yuri Zambin, Director of Tochmash

– The formation of Uranium Enrichment Center will become a landmark point in the history of the national nuclear industry

Public hearings on Uranium Enrichment Center project take place in Angarsk today, June 4 2009. The center will use gas centrifuges of the last generation. The project will be financed by shareholders and creditors. The construction will be started in late 2009-early 2010 and completed in 2017. Director General of the Center Dmitry Ashanin said that the hearings were an important stage of the project. They received wide response from the local public. Over 400 NGO representatives and local residents, two deputy governors, three ministers of Irkutsk region, the chairman of the Energy Committee of the regional Legislative Assembly, the heads of Angarsk municipal and district administration took part in the event. The minutes of the hearings will be made public and will be included in the design documentation.

The formation of the Uranium Enrichment Center will become a landmark point in the history of the national nuclear industry. The initiators of this project are Russia and Kazakhstan, which is quite logical. Our countries have the biggest reserves of uranium, unique technologies and huge capacities for its processing. Jointly they are creating Russia’s first facility for production of uranium fuel. The center is supposed to solve the problem of shortage of energy resources. I think that this project will stimulate the demand for our products: gas centrifuges for separation of uranium isotopes.