Kazakh company Kazatomprom to supply natural uranium to Czech utility ČEZ for seven years

Kazakh company Kazatomprom will supply natural uranium to energy company ČEZ for the next seven years. It will cover about a third of the requirements for the fuel assemblies produced by US company Westinghouse for the Temelín nuclear power plant. ČEZ and Kazatomprom signed the contract today. ČEZ spokesperson Ladislav Kříž told the Czech News Agency.

Kazatomprom is the world’s largest uranium producer. „Securing a partnership with Kazatomprom diversifies our supplier portfolio and is of strategic importance to ČEZ and the Czech Republic. It ensures that our nuclear power plants will continue to have a stable and reliable source of fuel, which is essential to meeting our energy needs and delivering our decarbonisation plan by 2030,“ said Bohdan Zronek, head of ČEZ’s nuclear energy division.

Kazakhstan produces more than 40 percent of the world’s uranium and is considered an important supplier by major nuclear power plant operators. Kazatomprom recently signed a long-term supply contract with China. Its shares have been traded on the London Stock Exchange since 2019, and the state owns 75 percent of the company. It mines uranium in Kazakhstan both independently and through joint ventures.

„With this new contract, Kazatomprom continues to expand its presence in the European market and pursue its strategy of diversifying its sales portfolio,“ said Kazatomprom Chief Commercial Officer Vladislav Baiguzhin on the agreement with ČEZ.

„This is another important milestone in our mission to become the preferred partner for the global nuclear industry,“ he added.

In November last year, ČEZ announced that enriched uranium for Czech nuclear power plants would continue to be supplied by British company Urenco at least until the mid-2030s. French company Orano is another supplier of enriched uranium to Czech power plants.

The Czech Republic has nuclear power plants in Temelín and Dukovany, which together account for about 40 percent of the country’s electricity consumption. Temelín has two units, each with a capacity of approximately 1000 megawatts (MW). Dukovany has four nuclear reactors, each with a capacity of 510 MW.