In March of this year, the Ukrainian nuclear-generating company Energoatom and the Canadian CAMESO entered into a cooperation partnership. In the Dnipro region of Ukraine, the Eastern mining and processing plant (VoskhodGOK) produces uranium, but there is no equipment for its processing in our country. Therefore, in 2019, Ukraine and the Canadian CAMESO began negotiations on cooperation, within the framework of which Energoatom transfers to CAMESO all the uranium mined at VoskhodGOK for subsequent conversion into uranium hexafluoride. Next, the UF6 is sent for enrichment to a British URENCO, from where the enriched uranium is sent to Westinghouse USA to produce nuclear fuel.
The 1st batch of uranium mined in Ukraine recently went to Canada and is today on its way through Europe. Finished nuclear fuel based on Ukrainian uranium will be used at Ukrainian nuclear power plants (Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Yuzhnoukrainsk) and some NPPs in Canada. The contract will be valid until 2035 and may extend to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as soon as the last occupier leaves its territory.
