Techsnabexport

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Techsnabexport (TENEX)
TypeJoint-stock company
Founded1963
Headquarters
Moscow
,
Russia
Key people
Sergey Polgorodnik (Director General)
Liudmila Zalimskaya (Chairman)
Production output
Enriched uranium
ServicesNuclear fuel cycle
Revenue17.4 billion rubles (2019)
Number of employees
362 (2017)
ParentRosatom
SubsidiariesSPb IZOTOP JSC
TENEX-Logistics JSC
LC NTC JSC
Crown LLC
INTERNEXCO GmbH
TENEX-Korea Co.
TENEX-Japan Co.
TRADEWILL LIMITED
TENAM Co.
Websitetenex.ru

Techsnabexport (Russian: АО «Техснабэкспорт»), internationally using the name TENEX, is a Rosatom's overseas trade company. It is an exporter of enriched uranium and other services of uranium enrichment. It supplies nuclear fuel cycle products.[1]

History[]

In 1949, a Soviet technology export enterprise Technoexport under the Soviet Union's Foreign Trade Ministry created a special working group for supplying equipment to uranium mines in Eastern Europe. In 1952, the working group was used as a platform to create the Technical Supply Office of Technoexport. Its customers included the Soviet-German joint venture Wismuth, the Jáchymov mines in Czechoslovakia, Quartzite in Romania, Kowarskie Kopalnie in Poland, and the Soviet-Bulgarian Mining Company. In 1955, Technoexport was reorganized and the Technical Supply Office was transferred to another export enterprise Mashinoexport.[citation needed]

On 17 July 1963, an export and import bureau Techsnabexport was established. In addition to supplying equipment to uranium mining companies in Eastern Europe and managing clearing payments for uranium imports, the company was commissioned to export and import rare earth, rare, and refractory metals, radioactive and stable isotopes, ionizing radiation sources, control and measuring equipment, accelerator and X-ray equipment.[citation needed] In 1975, Techsnabexport was reorganized as independent company. Its main activity was providing uranium enrichment services for foreign customers.[citation needed]

The first contract for the supply of uranium enrichment services, signed in May 1971 with the , meant the launch of Russian uranium products not only in the European but also the global market.[citation needed] In the 1970 and 1980s, contracts were also signed with Italy, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Finland, the UK, Belgium, and the Republic of Korea.

In 1988, Techsnabexport was transferred to the Soviet Union's Ministry of Medium Machine-Building (predecessor of Rosatom). In 2007, it was integrated with Atomenergoprom, 100% of shares of which belong to Rosatom.[citation needed] During the period of radical market reforms in the Russian nuclear industry in 2002–2007, TENEX acquired and consolidated assets in the uranium mining, engineering, and chemical sectors. Later non-core assets were transferred to other subsidiaries of Rosatom, such as TVEL (acquired the Russian Gas Centrifuge holding), holding company Composite (acquired the research and manufacturing complex UMATEX Group), ARMZ Uranium Holding (acquired the Russia-based and foreign uranium mining assets),[2] mechanical engineering and chemical sector companies.

In October 1992, the Russian Federal Agency on Atomic Energy and the United States Department of Commerce signed the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation (Suspension Agreement). By the terms of the agreement, the investigation initiated in 1990s by the US natural uranium producers was frozen. The Suspension Agreement terms allowed for carrying out commercial supplies of negligible volumes of enriched uranium within the agreed quotas through 2002.[3] In 1994, TENEX signed a contract with United States Enrichment Corporation to provide supplies of LEU downblended from 500 tons of highly enriched uranium extracted from Russian nuclear weapons to the US until the end of 2013.[3] In 2008, Rosatom and the US Department of Commerce signed an Amendment to the Suspension Agreement concerning the uranium supplies from Russia, which was developed upon the initiative and with the participation of TENEX. It established necessary legal conditions for the Russian uranium product to commercially enter the US market that had been closed to it during the preceding decade.[citation needed]

In 2008, TENEX signed contracts with the China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation for providing technical support in the construction of the fourth stage of the gas centrifuge plant in China, as well as for uranium enrichment services and/or supplies of enriched uranium product in from 2010 to 2020.[citation needed] In 2012, TENEX signed a contract with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on low-enrichment uranium supplies from 2015 to 2029 for the Barakah nuclear power plant.[4]

Since 2016, TENEX has been cooperating with Japanese partners on recovery after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. After a competitive tender, carried out in 2017 by the Mitsubishi Research Institute, TENEX together with FSUE RosRAO is working on creation of a neutron detector to search and identify fuel debris fragments in the inside reactor space.[5]

In February 2017, TENEX was appointed the sole organization authorized to conclude foreign trade deals related to import to Russia of irradiated fuel assemblies from nuclear power reactors.[6] In 2017, TENEX was authorized by Rosatom to transit low-enriched uranium along the territory of the Russian Federation within the IAEA LEU Bank creation in Kazakhstan.[citation needed]

In February 2018, TENEX together with FSUE RosRAO, the V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute and SSC RIAR was chosen for the project on the development of technologies for analyzing the ageing properties of fuel debris subsidized by the Japanese government. Companies will study the samples of corium and "lava" generated from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, and will manufacture model samples of Fukushima Daiichi NPP fuel debris in order to develop a prediction model for the changes of corium properties with the aim of using it for post-accident clean-up at Fukushima Daiichi NPP.[7] In 2019, after completing research on predicting changes in corium properties during aging, TENEX was selected as the executor of the second project on this topic.[8]

Operations[]

TENEX develops and supplies SNF storage and transportation systems, supplies equipment for RW management, builds infrastructure facilities for SNF management at the customer's premises, and reprocesses uranium-containing materials. The company also provides transportation and logistics services and is developing new lines of business.[9]

In 2019, TENEX concluded 28 deals with 18 customers from eight countries (including additions to the existing contracts). The value of the deals was about $3 billion.[10]

Nuclear fuel cycle and uranium products[]

Techsnabexport supplies uranium products manufactured by Russian NFC enterprises: natural and enriched uranium, uranium conversion and enrichment services, as well as services in handling regenerated uranium and other uranium-containing materials of non-standard specifications. These products are used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants and research reactors.[citation needed]

TENEX provides a significant portion of the uranium enrichment services for reactors of foreign design.[citation needed]

The total volume of the portfolio of long-term orders is about US$16 billion.[11]

Techsnabexport was appointed as the only organization authorized to conclude foreign trade transactions related to the import of irradiated fuel assemblies into Russia for reprocessing.[11]

Other activities[]

TENEX is working to expand the product offering for companies that are focused on the production and use of "green" energy.[11] The first deliveries of biofuel (wood pellets) to the global market were made in 2019. The approach to the handling of wood raw materials in the supply chain was confirmed by certification according to international standards FSС and SBP.[citation needed]

The company is evaluating of lithium deposits for their subsequent development.[citation needed]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ TENEX corporate booklet. 2014.
  2. ^ TENEX 50th anniversary booklet (PDF). 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b TENEX Megatons to Megawats booklet (PDF). 2013.
  4. ^ "RIA Novosti". 2014-04-29.
  5. ^ "Предприятия Росатома создадут нейтронный детектор". Nezavisimaya Gazeta. 2017-03-30.
  6. ^ ""Техснабэкспорт" будет отвечать за ввоз в РФ облученного ядерного топлива". RIA Novosti. 2017-02-09.
  7. ^ "Структуры "Росатома" разработают технологии анализа расплава реактора АЭС "Фукусима"". Interfax. 2018-02-05.
  8. ^ "Специалисты из РФ победили в конкурсе на изучение топливных осколков АЭС "Фукусима-Дайичи"". Rambler (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  9. ^ "Направления деятельности". АО «Техснабэкспорт» (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  10. ^ "Техснабэкспорт в 2019 году увеличил продажи урановой продукции на 18%, до 2 миллиардов долларов". www.atominfo.ru. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Grafov D. B. (2016). "Russian and Anti-Russian Lobbyism in the United States". The United States and Canada: Economics, Politics and Culture.: 103–104.

External links[]

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