Talks are continuing in the US between Russia’s MINATOM, Cogema, Nukem and Cameco, and the US Department of Energy. At talks held in Vienna in September, the US agreed to postpone for 10 years the sale of its own state- owned uranium resources and to let Russia receive US natural uranium as a “barter” payment for its LEU deliveries. Washington also agreed to prepare a prepayment scheme through a commercial bank for future Russian uranium supplies and to ensure that the newly-privatised USEC does not “dump” uranium on the world market. In return, MINATOM agreed to finalise a deal with the consortium to allow it to realise “fair value” for the material, and to continue deliveries of HEU.
