Denis Demin, deputy managing director of Lenmontazhstroy IC

– In alliance with big European player, Atomstroyexport will have all chances to get contracts in countries operating reactors of the “Soviet” series

NUKEM GmbH, Alzenau, has signed a contract to sell its subsidiary company NUKEM Technologies GmbH to the Russian ZAO Atomstroyexport, the world’s leading uranium trader said in a press release on August 14. NUKEM Technologies is active worldwide in engineering, management of radioactive waste and decommissioning nuclear facilities, and with these activities is “an outstanding match” for the portfolio of Atomstroyexport. The management of NUKEM GmbH is certain that it has selected a viable and strategic future investor for its subsidiary. CFO Dirk Martens said, “Atomstroyexport offers our colleagues in the engineering business the chance to further develop their activities and markets. So jobs at NUKEM Technologies are secured and can be expanded in connection with the global renaissance of nuclear energy.”

The interest of Atomstroyexport in a structure specializing in decommissioning of nuclear power plants is quite natural. The number of the reactors subject to decommissioning is growing. I, first of all, mean the reactors of the former USSR and Eastern Europe built in 1965–1985. Their maximum service life is 30–40 years. So, we can shortly expect certain animation on the NPP decommissioning market.

Germany faced this problem a bit earlier, in the 1990s, when following the pressure of the Greens, the local authorities decided to shut down all of their nuclear reactors. This plan has not been fully realized yet. The point is that the nuclear phase-out idea has ceased to be as attractive as it seemed before especially now that the energy prices are going up. Germany has big theoretical and practical experience of economical and ecologically safe decommissioning of nuclear reactors and this experience can help Atomstroyexport in its activities in both Russia and abroad. In alliance with a big European player, Atomstroyexport will have all chances to get contracts in countries operating nuclear reactors of the “Soviet” series.