The producer of around 8% of the world's uranium ore, Russia is reaching out to the rapidly emerging powerhouse in the Asian-Pacific, where demand for nuclear material is high.
"The Asian-Pacific is a key market for us. We are supplying Japan with uranium fuel and have increased our presence in the country to 16-18% of demand recently," Vladimir Smirnov, head of the state-owned company Techsnabexport said. "Uranium supply contracts have also been signed for the coming years, and the figure [for market share] will approach 20% by 2010."
He said the company's plans include energy-hungry China, which has worked out a large-scale program for nuclear power development.
Smirnov called for intergovernmental agreements at a new level to be signed to correspond to nuclear non-proliferation developments. This would ensure that nuclear fuel will not be diverted to weapons programs.
