Kazakhstan discusses uranium supplies for Finnish nuclear plants. It could replace Russia

Alongside diversifying suppliers of natural gas and oil and moving away from supplies of these commodities from Russia, Europe has in recent years also been discussing similar measures in the nuclear industry. Russia has traditionally supplied both uranium and nuclear fuel to a number of nuclear power plants, not only in Europe. Finland is also focusing on diversifying the sources of uranium and fuel for its nuclear power plants, and could apparently source uranium from Kazakhstan in the future.

With annual production exceeding 23 thousand tonnes, Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer. According to Reuters, it plans to increase production further—to 25 thousand tonnes this year and 26.5 thousand tonnes next year. The question remains which markets the additional production will serve.

Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of Kazakhstan's Agency for Atomic Energy, said, according to Reuters, that the country is discussing possible supplies for nuclear power plants in Finland. Satkaliyev did not provide any details, however, either on possible volumes or on a potential start date for deliveries.

In response to a question from Reuters, Fortum said it is working to diversify fuel supplies for its Loviisa nuclear power plant. The diversification is intended to cover the entire supply chain, from uranium mining and enrichment services to the production of the fuel itself.

"Kazakhstan is a major uranium producer and remains a potential supplier," Fortum said in response to a Reuters question about its talks with Kazakhstan.

The company's representatives declined to comment on whether Fortum had taken part in the talks on the subject in Astana. Fortum began diversifying its nuclear fuel supplies last year, when it also started sourcing fuel from Westinghouse. In the past, fuel for the Loviisa nuclear power plant was supplied exclusively by TVEL, a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Rosatom.

Although Kazakhstan currently has no nuclear power plants of its own, it is still the world's largest uranium producer. In addition to uranium mining, the country also plans to focus on other parts of the supply chain, specifically nuclear fuel production.