ALMATY/DEC. 29 2020 (The Bulletin) —  — Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom, the world’s biggest uranium miner, agreed to sell China’s CGN a 49% stake in one of its most important subsidiaries as part of a contract to boost bilateral cooperation in the sector. 

Under the deal, signed between 2014 and 2016, China will commit to funding the construction of a nuclear fuel assembly plant in Kazakhstan and will guarantee orders for these fuel assemblies for the next 20 years.

Kazatomprom said that the coronavirus pandemic had slowed construction of the Ulba Fuel Assembly Plant in the east of the country but that the project was now back on track.

“Under the current ramp-up and product qualification plan, and assuming no further delays, the first production from the Ulba-FA plant is expected near the end of 2021, with first delivery of finished, certified fuel assemblies to the customer in 2022,” Kazatomprom said in a statement.

China is the world’s biggest growth market for nuclear power and a natural marketplace for Kazatomprom’s uranium. Fuel assemblies are enriched uranium rods grouped together to generate power for power stations.

The deal highlights the trade co-dependency of the two neighbours and also how China is continuing to increase its ownership of Kazakh industry. 

China has been buying up many of Kazakhstan’s top industrial assets, especially in the oil and gas and the mineral and mining  sectors, for the past 15 years or so.

The Kazatomprom subsidiary that CGN, which stands for China General Nuclear Power Group, has agreed to take a 49% in, as part of the fuel assembly supply deal, is called Ortalyk. 

It owns two uranium deposits in Kazakhstan, the Central Mynkuduk Deposit and the Zhalpak Deposit. The deal is expected to be completed by the middle of 2021.

— ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021