Nikolay Ponomarev-Stepnoy, Vice President of Kurchatov Institute

— The deal with Atomstroyexport is beneficial for NUKEM

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.”

I think that it was a right action. This contract has brought us closer to the European market. The purchase of a western company knowing all the ropes on the European market will certainly help us to improve our efficiency and to get more access to that market.

We must know that nuclear market is not just NPP construction. It a very wide spectrum of services: from mining of uranium to burial of waste. We already have uranium mining agreements with Australian and Kazakh companies. Now, after purchasing Nukem Technologies, we will be able to offer services in the fields of nuclear waste treatment and burial and NPP decommissioning. 

NUKEM GmbH will also benefit from this deal. This is a kind of new blood for them. It is not a secret that, due to certain political circumstances, the German nuclear market is not very active, while in Russia nuclear energy is regarded as one of the national priorities. This deal will enlarge Atomstroyexport’s presence on the global market. Presently, this company is building five reactors and negotiating for building more. And NUKEM is certainly interested in such a big market.