Clients Switching From Russia To World's Top Uranium Miner

In the midst of increasing domestic and international demand for uranium, Kazakhstan's state-owned uranium miner is preparing reserves to be used in the future, including by power producers in Eastern Europe who want to reduce their reliance on Russia for energy production.

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The chief executive officer of Kazatomprom, Yerzhan Mukanov, said some nuclear plants in Eastern Europe are looking for contracts from 2025 for enriched uranium sourced from Russia. Some power producers are building inventories because of geopolitical uncertainties reshaping nuclear fuel flows, he said.

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According to Mukanov, these reserves will enable the company to respond to the market's demands in the future, since we are preparing them for production.

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As one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear fuel, Russia, the world’s largest supplier of enriched uranium, is among the countries seeking to reduce their dependence on it. However, this has not prevented Russia from increasing its nuclear exports since the invasion of Ukraine, increasing the Kremlin’s revenue and strengthening its influence over a new generation of buyers around the world, despite the fact that this hasn’t been enough to stop them from doing so.

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In addition to an estimated 16% increase in reactor capacity through 2030, the World Nuclear Association said last year that uranium demand is expected to increase by about a third through 2030. As of this year, Kazakhstan intends to keep its uranium production at about 22,000 tons, a level that is higher than 40% of the world's uranium production. 

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In his speech, Mukanov said that the company does not want to see prices grow explosively, but it has a forecast for a rise in uranium demand.

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There are two main processes that begin the nuclear fuel cycle: the mining of uranium and the conversion of it from yellowcake to a gas, then enrichment as part of the nuclear fuel cycle, which creates the chain reaction that produces the energy.

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Currently Kazatomprom ships uranium across the Caspian Sea and across the Black Sea to the Black Sea, using Russian ports to ship the atomic fuel, but Kazatomprom is planning to introduce a third export route this year, going through one of China's ports.

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As a result of China's increased demand over the past few years, mukanov said that the country's goal is to have "uninterrupted and long term supplies of uranium going forward." The country plans on adding new nuclear power plants and also increase its own stockpiles, he said.