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All production of uranium in Russia to be concentrated in Seversk, Siberia

"It's much easier to bring uranium to Seversk, to dress it there and to supply it to the factories producing nuclear fuel," Bekmemetyev said

IZHEVSK, January 25 (itar-Tass) -- All the production of uranium in Russia will be concentrated in the Siberian town of Seversk by 2016, Oleg Bekmemetyev, a deputy director general of the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant /CMZ/ told reporters Friday.

"There are three facilities producing uranium in Russia," he said. "There'll be a single one and it'll be locate in Seversk in Siberia. A project has been drafted for concentrating the entire production capability there."

At present, uranium is carried from the Far East to Glazov in Udmurtia, a region located to the West of the Urals, as well as to Angarsk in the Irkutsk region and to Seversk in the Tomsk region in central Siberia, and this pattern is inefficient in terms of logistics.

"It's much easier to bring uranium to Seversk, to dress it there and to supply it to the factories producing nuclear fuel," Bekmemetyev said.

As for the elimination of uranium production at the CMZ, this is a scheduled strategic step, which the factory's management knew about well in advance and which it got ready for.

For instance, the executives have drawn up a risk-prevention plan that envisions industrial diversification that envisions the streamlining of production of new types of rolled metal and resumption of the rare earth metals manufacturing.

The CMZ is affiliated with the nuclear fuel producer TVEL, which in its turn is a subsidiary of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom. It occupies leading positions among the world manufacturers of products from natural and downgraded uranium, as well as from calcium metal and is a key element in the technological chain of mfanufacturing of fuel, construction materials and equipment for the nuclear power industry.