UAE and Russia reach nuclear fuel supply agreement

After some arduous negotiations, the UAE and Russia finally reached a nuclear fuel supply agreement that satisfied both parties on December 17, and the UAE’s nuclear power strategy has been firmly backed by this.

Sergei Kirilenko, general manager of Russia's national nuclear power company (Rosatom) expressed his satisfaction with the results: “Although ARussia is a country rich in oil and gas resources, but the vision of nuclear power is consistent.” He further said that A Russian Sitting on the "black gold" still does not give up the development of nuclear power, indicating that nuclear power has a clear competitive advantage.

Since the determination to develop nuclear power, in order to ensure long-term supply of nuclear fuel, the United Arab Emirates has launched a fierce diplomatic offensive globally, striving for the support of nuclear power powers. The UAE’s local English media “National News” reported that Ao Russia’s agreement emphasized that if the UAE wants to complete its first five-year plan for nuclear power, it must receive the support and cooperation of other major nuclear powers.

In August of this year, UAE’s nuclear power company, UAE’s nuclear power company, subcontracted a total of 11 billion dirhams (US$3 billion) worth of 15-year* supply contracts to the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, France and the United States. Nuclear power technology leading companies in the country. According to the contract, the UAE will receive 12,000 tons of enrichment* from overseas. These nuclear fuels will be enough to produce 450 billion kWh of electricity, in other words, to meet the electricity demand of more than 40,000 households a year.

The UAE’s nuclear energy company’s spokesperson, Fahad Khahtani, said at the time that the mines imported from the UAE would come from all corners of the globe. According to reports, the mines that were signed with Azerbaijan include Rio Tinto based in the United Kingdom, Uranium One in Canada, Tenex in Russia, Areva in France, ConverDyn in the US, and Urenco in the United Kingdom. Among them, Russia is considered by outsiders to play a major role in the supply of nuclear fuel in Afghanistan. Apart from Tenex, Uranium One is a Canadian company, but the controlling party is a subsidiary company of Rosatom. In addition, Russia is the first country in the world to receive nuclear waste from other countries. Strengthening cooperation with Russia will not only relieve the worries of the UAE's post-processing of nuclear waste, but also eliminate concerns about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.

According to reports, Russia had promised to provide Iran with a "rental" service for nuclear fuel to prevent nuclear waste from being used in nuclear weapons manufacturing, but this idea has not been realized. Some experts pointed out that the above concept has great attraction for the UAE. The adoption of a lease form can avoid the construction of underground facilities for burying nuclear waste locally, and it does not require the construction of a common nuclear waste landfill facility in the neighboring areas, and other Gulf countries. Expensive. However, except for Russia, few countries are willing to recycle nuclear waste. Earlier this year, when the UAE and Australia signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement, Australia once rejected it.

In terms of hardware and software, the United Arab Emirates nuclear power plant site will also be a small United Nations: cooling pump and nuclear power project-related services and training will come from Westinghouse, which has been acquired by Toshiba, Japan; the first four nuclear power plant construction tasks will belong to South Korea. Electricity Commune.

At present, the first unit of the United Arab Emirates has broken ground and is scheduled to be ready for operation in 2017. In order to ensure the supply of nuclear fuel, the United Arab Emirates uninterruptedly launched nuclear diplomacy and reached an agreement with the above-mentioned countries to ensure the smooth introduction of nuclear fuel imports and nuclear power technology. In addition, the UAE has established national-level cooperation in nuclear energy with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and South Korea, and has made its nuclear power strategy as global as possible from the very beginning.

The relevant agreement also requires that if the United Arab Emirates imports the enrichment* from the above-mentioned overseas* mining companies from a country or region that does not have a treaty with the United Arab Emirates, it will be able to obtain diplomatic assistance from Britain, the United States, France, and Russia. For example, Rio Tinto, a multinational giant, has footprints all over the world, except Australia, which also has resources in Africa. Assuming that Rio Tinto provided the * ore to the UAE, it will undoubtedly require more diplomacy to promote it.

In terms of funding, the UAE has also won overseas favor as the first country to eat nuclear power crabs in the Middle East. In September of this year, the UAE’s first nuclear power unit successfully obtained US$2 billion in export credit**.

Analysts pointed out that UAE nuclear power will not only be the first in the history of the Middle East, but also because it was the first country that decided to join the nuclear power camp after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986.

After many years, the pain of Chernobyl will subside. Last year, the “3.11” nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, provoked a new nuclear crisis, and the global nuclear power delisting gradually became a trend. Although the United Arab Emirates was determined to embrace nuclear power before the Fukushima nuclear accident, it did not change its original intention and injected a boost to the nuclear power industry that had been hit a second time. The United Arab Emirates has become a blessing for international nuclear power companies.