Dr. Stefan Meister, Researcher of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Germany

— Contract for Nukem Technologies purchase is this year the second case of German-Russian cooperation deal in nuclear sphere

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.”

Contract for Nukem Technologies purchase is this year the second case (after Siemens) of German-Russian cooperation deal in nuclear sphere. I think there is a trend in industrial cooperation between German and Russian companies not only in the nuclear but also in other sectors (cars, ship building, high tec a.s.o.). This is because Germany has what Russian companies need (high tech, experiences, quality) and Russia in its turn has, what German companies need (resources, experiences, access to new markets and it is itself an interesting market). In the nuclear sector there are few players in the world and we can observe a concentration process of the existing companies. There is some logic behind, that German and Russian companies cooperate in this sector, because again of the high tech, quality and the market and experience on the other hand.

Nukem Technologies is one of the few companies in the world dealing with radioactive waste management and deconstruction of NPP. It has a lot of experience and it is an important player on the market. The Russian company will need in future this experience for radioactive waste management and it will play on this market a bigger role. Russian Rosatom is a significant player in the world nuclear industry which includes an increasing market in Europe, Asia but also in other parts of the world. It needs international partners and technology to grow faster to become an important player in the competition for building new NPP. Foreign partners may contribute to it.