TOKYO, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - Japan's Marubeni, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (Chubu) closed a deal with a Kazakh uranium producer expected to meet 25% of Japan's needs, a Tokyo newspaper said.
The Nikkei business daily said Marubeni bought 60%, TEPCO 30% and Chubu 10% in Kyzylkum and Baiken-U, subsidiaries of Kazatomprom, which will allow them to develop two uranium fields in the south of Kazakhstan and export 2,000 metric tons of Kazakh uranium a year to Japan, thereby covering 25% of the country's annual needs, Nikkei said.
Uranium production would tentatively start in 2007, and reach 5,000 metric tons a year by 2014. The project is expected to yield 160,000 metric tons by 2050.
Nuclear power makes up 30% of Japan's energy mix, and the country intends to raise the figure to 40% by 2030, making nuclear power its key energy source.
