UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 10, 2019. TVEL and Ural Electrochemical Combine’s management met with the NGO members and residents of Novouralsk and Sverdlovsk Region at the initiative of Rosatom State Corporation’s Public Council and with support from Ural Electrochemical Combine, the latter’s press service reports.

The issues relating to safe treatment of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) interested the locals very much.

First Vice President at TVEL Mikhail Zarubin stressed in his opening address that depleted UF6 was a strategic stock of a valuable resource vital to the Russian nuclear industry’s development and future.

‘Depleted UF6 is a valuable source of enriched uranium produce. We have the unique uranium-enrichment technologies that help us use these raw materials in a way that makes good economic sense. Besides, our use of depleted UF6 means we can save the natural uranium deposits,’ Zarubin emphasized.

Zarubin also said Russia was responsible for producing 5.4% of the world’s naturally occurring uranium in 2018 and operated over 40% of the world’s separative facilities.

Director-General at Ural Electrochemical Combine Alexander Beloussov said the plant was the uranium enrichment leader in terms of cost efficiency and had the unique technologies and know-hows that allowed for the financially sensible treatment of depleted UF6.

Now the scientific rationale behind all the safety issues is important for every complicated technological process. Alexei Yekidin, Assistant Professor at Ural Federal University and Head of Radiation Lab at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Ural Branch’s Institute for Industrial Environmental Studies, gave a talk on the risks, regulations, safety rules, and strict control over Ural Electrochemical Combine’s environmental impact.