LOCATION: Moscow
Address: 24/26 ulitsa Bolshaya Ordynka, Moscow, 101000
Telephone: (095) 239-49-22
Fax: (095) 239-44-04
["Produktsiya Predpriyatiy OAO "TVEL": ot Yadernogo Topliva do Promyshlennykh Tovarov," print advertisement, Vek, No.2 (317), 15-21 January 1999, p. 8.]
HOMEPAGE:   http://www.tvel.ru {Entered 8/8/2001 ES}
STRUCTURE:
TVEL is a joint stock company with 100% of the shares owned by the state. The company owns a controlling interest in the key Russian nuclear fuel-manufacturing enterprises, including the Machine-Building Plant, Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant, Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, Krasnoyarsk Chemical-Metallurgical Factory, Transbaikal (Zabaykalskiy) Mining and Enrichment Combine, the Volga (Volzhskiy) Machine-Building Plant, Moscow Commercial Center No. 100, and Malyshev Mining Utility.[1,2,3]
Sources:
[1] JSC TVEL Web Site, http://www.tvel.ru.  {Updated 8/8/2001 ES}
[2] "TVEL Nuclear Fuel Company to Increase Capital," Interfax News Agency Daily News Bulletin, 22 October 2001. {Updated 11/9/2001 EC}
[3] Gennadiy Voskresenskiy, "Sem programm zavtrashnego dnya. Novyy ekonomicheskiy kurs odnoy iz krupneishikh struktur Minatoma," Vek, No. 51, 28 December 2001. {Updated 9/5/02 DA}
ACTIVITIES:
The TVEL Joint Stock Company was established in September 1996 according to Presidential Decree No. 166, dated 8 February 1996, on improving the administration of nuclear fuel cycle enterprises, and was aimed at creating a vertical system for managing nuclear fuel and its components production.[1,3,4,6] TVEL manages all aspects of nuclear fuel production and use, including research and development, certification by Minatom and Gosatomnadzor, use in power reactors, and eventual disposition.[5] As of November 2000, TVEL supplied nuclear fuel to Soviet-built nuclear power plants (NPP) in Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Ukraine. In cooperation with Siemens, TVEL supplies nuclear fuel to Germany and Switzerland. In 1997, the company signed a contract to supply nuclear fuel and equipment to Lianyungang NPP and fuel for a fast neutron research reactor in China. In the Russian-Indian agreement to build VVER-1000 reactors in India, TVEL is named as the supplier of fuel and equipment for these reactors. TVEL enterprises also export non-nuclear materials, such as zirconium, calcium, and lithium to Western countries and several East European countries. In 1999, several nuclear research and design institutes and centers, including Kurchatov Institute, VNIINM, OKBM, NIKIET, NIIAR, VNIIKhT, IPPE, and TVEL established the association TVEL-Nauka. The main purpose of this association is to facilitate cooperation between TVEL and research institutes in developing and producing a new generation of nuclear fuel for use in VVER and RMBK reactors.[6] In 2001, the Russian federal government transferred its 51% share of the Malyshev Mining Utility to TVEL. The utility will produce zirconium concentrate for manufacturing of zirconium tubes used in production of nuclear fuel elements.[7]
Sources:
[1] "Rossiya Sozdayet Vertikalnuyu Sistemu Upravleniya Proizvodstvom Yadernogo Topliva," Interfax, 1 July 1996.
[2] Nuclear Business Directory (Moscow: IBR Corporation, 1995), p. 79.
[3] Yadernyy Kontrol, No. 20-21 August-September, 1996, p. 1.
[4] "Glavnaya kollegiya goda," Atompressa No.17, April, 1997, p.2. {Updated 3/1/99 MS}
[5] Vladimir Molchanov, "Novatsiya s syurprizami," Vek, No. 14 (329), 9 April 1999, p. 12.{Updated 11/2/99 LWB}
[6] JSC TVEL Web Site, http://www.tvel.ru.  {Updated 8/8/2001 ES}
[7] "TVEL Nuclear Fuel Company to Increase Capital," Interfax News Agency Daily News Bulletin, 22 October 2001.{Updated 10/30/2001 EC}
 
ARCHIVED TVEL DEVELOPMENTS:

This section is no longer being updated.  For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.
 
5/13/2003:  TVEL PLANS NEW INVESTMENT PROGRAM
TVEL intends to expand its enterprises by increasing its investments to $60-80 million annually from TVEL group profits.  This is significantly higher than the 744.73 million rubles (about $24 million as of 21 May 2003) TVEL invested in 2002.  In the short term, TVEL plans to use these investment funds to upgrade the machine-building tools at Elektrostal and the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant and increase the capacity of the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant.  TVEL's long-term plans include developing its own uranium-mining program.  To this end, TVEL has already begun mining two deposits in the Chita region and has purchased a 38% share in Priargunskiy Mining and Chemical Production Association, according to TVEL President Aleksandr Nyago.  Nyago also said that Minister of Atomic Energy Rumyantsev has given TVEL sole authority for all uranium mining in Russia.
["TVEL Nuclear Fuel Co. to Invest $60 Mln-$80 Mln Annually," Interfax News Agency Weekly Business Report, 13 May 2003.] {Entered 5/21/2003 CB}

11/12/2002: TVEL TO SUPPLY HEU NUCLEAR FUEL TO POLAND
On 12 November 2002, Nuclear.Ru reported that TVEL and the Polish Atomic Energy Institute will negotiate a contract on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel enriched to 36% uranium-235 isotope for the institute's research reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency is the primary sponsor of the Polish reactor. The Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant, affiliated with TVEL, will manufacture the nuclear fuel.
["OAO 'TVEL' provedet peregovory ob izgotovlenii i postavke v Polshu vysokoobogashchennogo yadernogo topliva," Nuclear.Ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 12 November 2002. {Entered 4/3/2003 DA}

9/5/2001: TVEL ACQUIRES MALYSHEV MINING UTILITY
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 5 September 2001 transferring the federal government's 51% share of the Malyshev Mining Utility to TVEL, according to Interfax. The decree was fulfilled on 22 October 2001 under an order signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. The Malyshev Mining Utility operates in Sverdlovsk Oblast and produces rare-earth metals. Uranium ore was previously produced at the mining utility, but production was halted by 1993. Putin's decree is part of an effort to integrate nuclear fuel cycle activities, and to improve efficiency of state control over nuclear activities. TVEL intends to invest more than 80 million rubles ($2.7 million as of 22 October 2001) in the Malyshev Mining Utility by 2005, primarily in raising output of zirconium concentrate to 2000 metric tons annually by 2003. Zirconium is used in the production of nuclear fuel elements.
["TVEL Nuclear Fuel Company to Increase Capital," Interfax News Agency Daily News Bulletin, 22 October 2001.]{Entered 10/30/01 EC}

10/2000: DIRECTOR  RESIGNS OVER MINATOM'S PLANS TO REORGANIZE TVEL
A 13 November 2000 article in NuclearFuel reported that according to "Russian industry sources" TVEL Director Vitaliy Konovalov resigned in October after disagreeing with top management at Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom). Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov announced on 2 November 2000 plans to reorganize the ministry on a commercial basis.  As part of the reorganization, TVEL, along with eight nuclear power plants and several export companies, will be incorporated into a single commercial structure accountable to Minatom.  According to the article, Konovalov disagreed with the planned restructuring.[1]  Sources differ as to exactly when Konovalov resigned.  In a 28 July 2000 interview with Vedomosti, Petr Lavrenyuk, a TVEL vice-president, was referred to as TVEL's acting president.[2]
Sources:
[1] "Head of Russian Fabricator TVEL Resigns Over Dispute with Minatom," NuclearFuel, Vol. 25, No. 23, 13 November 2000; in Platts Global Energy website, http://www.archive.mhenergy.com/cgi-bin/archive/.
[2]  Gennadiy Voskresenskiy, "Why the Atomic Energy Ministry is to Have its Own Natural Monopoly," Vedomosti, No. 30, p.2, 28 July 2000; in "TVEL President Lavrenyuk Interviewed on Possible Atomprom Business Union Venture," FBIS Document CEP20000814000298.  {Entered 11/17/2000 GD}
 
3/99: TVEL SALES, EXPORTS INCREASE
According to Mikhail Solonin, director of the Bochvar All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Inorganic Materials, TVEL is Russia's largest exporter of non-military advanced technologies, and the volume of its nuclear fuel sales, both domestically and abroad, continues to increase.  TVEL, in cooperation with TVEL-Nauka Association (an organization of research institutes and design bureaus involved in the nuclear fuel sphere) has upgraded zirconium production facilities at the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (CMZ) to increase the competitiveness of CMZ products. Solonin suggested that more commercial industrial enterprises should cooperate with research institutes, as it would be mutually beneficial and would prevent Russia from becoming dependent on imported technologies.  (For more information on Russian nuclear material exports please see the Russian Nuclear and Missile Exports section of the NIS Profiles Database.)
[Mikhail Solonin, "Nauka derzhit temp," Vek, No. 9(324), 5-11 March 1999, p. 7.] {Entered 4/23/99 LBN} 
 
2/22/99: UKRAINE CANNOT PAY TVEL FOR FUEL
On 22 Feburary 1999, NuclearFuel reported that TVEL's business relationship with Ukraine has become difficult.  According to TVEL President Valeriy Konovalov, Ukraine ordered $65 million worth of nuclear fuel, to be delivered in the first quarter of 1999, but the company cannot produce the fuel because Ukraine has not made payments on it.  Konovalov stated that the Ukrainian government would need to take action to solve the problem.
[Sergey Rybak and Ann MacLachlan, "TVEL Aims to Increase Fuel Sales This year in and Outside of Russia," NuclearFuel, Vol.24, No.4, 22 February 1999, p. 5.] {Entered 4/9/99 LBN} 
 
1/11/99: TVEL TAKES OVER FRESH FUEL EXPORT BUSINESS
On 11 January 1999, Aleksey Grigoriyev, foreign relations manager for TVEL, said that TVEL will replace Tekhsnabeksport as the exporter of Russian fuel for VVER power reactors in Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. The value of TVEL’s fuel exports to these countries is expected to reach $155 million in the near term. TVEL also intends to supplant Tekhsnabeksport as the supplier of fuel to Soviet-designed reactors in Slovakia, from which it expects to earn $40 million, and in Finland as Tekhsnabeksport’s contracts with those countries expire. In addition, TVEL will be responsible for fuel supplies to RBMK reactors in Ukraine and Lithuania and for the Russian-designed power reactors under construction in Bushehr, Iran, and Lianyungang, China, and is negotiating with India to supply fuel for the VVER reactor planned for Koodankulam. Tekhsnabeksport will continue to reprocess spent fuel from reactors outside Russia and will export natural uranium, HEU, and radioisotopes.[1] According to TVEL President Valeriy Konovalov, TVEL exports outside the NIS totalled $296 million in 1998 and are expected to reach $331 million in 1999.[2] (For more information on Russian nuclear material exports please see the Russian Nuclear and Missile Exports section of the NIS Profiles Database.)
Sources:
[1] Sergey Rybak, "Russia's TVEL to take over fuel export business," NuclearFuel, Vol.24, No.1, 11 January 1999, p.17.
[2] Sergey Rybak and Ann MacLachlan, "TVEL aims to increase fuel sales this year in and outside of Russia," NuclearFuel, Vol.24, No.4, 22 February 1999, p. 5.{Updated 3/29/99 FW}
 
TVEL-NAUKA ASSOCIATION
 
ACTIVITIES:
In 1999, TVEL and leading Russian nuclear research and production centers, including the Kurchatov Institute, OKB Gidropress, VNIINM, SRIAR, IPPE, created the TVEL-Nauka Association, to develop and introduce new fuel for Russian and Russian-designed NPPs.
[Vladimir Molchanov, "Novatsiya s syurprizami," Vek, No. 14 (329), 9 April 1999, p. 12.] {Entered 11/2/99 LWB}

TVEL-NAUKA DEVELOPMENTS:

This section is no longer being updated.  For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.
 
4/9/99: TVEL-NAUKA DEVELOPS NEW NUCLEAR FUEL
According to a 9 April 1999 report by the SKhK press service, TVEL-Nauka is developing new fuels that will increase NPP safety, lengthen the fuel cycle from three to five years, increase fuel burn-up, decrease natural uranium consumption by 15-17 percent, decrease yearly fuel consumption by 25-30 percent, and decrease the cost of reprocessing spent fuel. Currently, the VVER-440 reactors at the Kola and Novovoronezh NPPs, where new nuclear fuels are tested, use a four- to five-year fuel cycle. An experimental uranium-gadolinium fuel (UGT), with a five-year fuel cycle, is being used in the Kola NPP Unit 4 reactor, and is slated for introduction into the fuel cycle at the Balakovo NPP, as well as the Zaporizhzhya NPP in Ukraine and NPPs with VVER-1000 reactors in China, Iran and India.
[Vladimir Molchanov, "Novatsiya s syurprizami," Vek, No. 14 (329), 9 April 1999, p. 12.] {Entered 11/2/99 LWB}

Page last updated 24 September 2003
The development sections in this file are no longer being updated. For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.

Comments or questions? Contact Elena Sokova at MIIS CNS: esokovaATmiis.edu

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2002 by MIIS.

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