Kazatomprom delivers first fuel to Chinese nuclear power plants

ALMATY. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Kazatomprom has delivered a first batch of AFA 3G TM fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants in China.

The Kazakh national atomic company said the Ulba-FA plant, a joint venture between Kazakhstan and China, had supplied the fuel.

"Railway flat cars with 34 shipping containers containing fuel assemblies for a single refueling - just over 30 tonnes of low-enriched uranium - were delivered to NPPs in China under escort and accepted by end customer, CGNPC-URC," the company said in a statement.

Ulba-FA started operating in November 2021 after passing qualification from the owner of AFA 3G technology, the French company Framatome and being recognized as a qualified nuclear fuel supplier by the end customer, CGNPC-URC. This is Kazakhstan's only nuclear power plant fuel manufacturer to have a guaranteed sales market for 20 years ahead. The plant's capacity is 200 tonnes a year in terms of low-enriched uranium, the statement says.

The founders of the joint venture are Kazatomprom's Ulba Metallurgical Plant with 51% and China General Nuclear Power Corporation's CGNPC-URC with 49%.