MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will maintain its 2002 level of supplies of low-enriched uranium to the United States under the relevant agreement between the two countries, Tekhsnabeksport director general Vladimir Smirnov told Interfax on Monday.
"There will be no changes to the amounts supplied this year," he said.
"The nuclear material market is fairly slow. It does not like abrupt changes. There is no likelihood of any radical changes. If there are, we, together with the Americans, will adjust the contracts for which the agreement provides," Smirnov said.
Russia's budget revenue under this agreement has been at no less than USD500m a year, another Tekhsnabeksport official said.
Under a USD12bn agreement covering a period of 20 years, Russia must process 500 tonnes of weapons-grade uranium extracted from about 20,000 warheads into low-enriched uranium for use in fuel elements at nuclear power stations.
Since 1994 Russia has received nearly USD3.5bn under the agreement, Tekhsnabeksport officials say.
The U.S. corporation USEC and the Russian company Tekhsnabeksport, along with U.S. and Russian government officials in charge of implementing the agreement, announced last October that one third of the total amount of uranium provided for by the agreement had been supplied to the United States.
Over 170 tonnes of weapons-grade uranium has been irreversibly converted into nuclear fuel, the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry reports.