Almaty                                                       

 

The top executives and specialists from a number of industrial and scientific structures from such countries as Russia, the USA, Germany, Japan, Spain, the Great Britain and some others are taking part in the three days workshop organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazatomprom, its subsidiaries – Ulba Metallurgical Plant and Institute of High Technologies, the Institute of Atomic Energy of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nuclear Society of Kazakhstan.

One of the key topics of the workshop is the use and wider application of beryllium for civil purposes. Beryllium has a number of unique physical and mechanical characteristics which make it attractive for the application in thermonuclear fusion, nuclear power, electronics and other knowledge-intensive industries. Its high radiation and corrosion resistance is used in nuclear energy technologies. Beryllium is the only natural material having the ability to keep thermonuclear reaction and not to contaminate high-temperature plasma where the reaction proceeds. Kazakhstan, being one of the two major producers of structural beryllium in the world, is the potential supplier of beryllium materials for ITER project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), where such leading countries as China, India, Southern Korea, Russia, the USA, Japan and the European Union states are engaged.

Different grades of beryllium and its alloys (beryllium copper) are used for creation of navigation systems, space telescopes,  high-speed systems of computer information recording and storage, mobile communications, critical constructions of space vehicles.

Workshop includes the exposition of complex high-technology products from structural beryllium, having been brought from UMP.

Meeting of scientists and workers in Almaty, from different countries working in the field of beryllium technologies shall give the participants a new experience, and the decisions made shall become a sort of program for the future.

Such fact that the workshop is held in Kazakhstan shows that the achievements that our country made in this specific and high-technology field are recognized, besides the workshop will help to evaluate the  potential perspectives of JSC NAC Kazatomprom in extending  beryllium application for civil purposes as well as the application of the products based on it.

NOTE

Beryllium production at UMP is one of the oldest and the second in the world as for production scale. This is one of the three enterprises in the world with full production cycle from ore concentrate processing to finished products output with the rated quality set-ups. Production started in 1950 when the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry of the USSR approved project specifications for beryllium hydroxide commercial production.

Production capacity of the enterprise allows producing up to 120 tons of different kinds of beryllium products per year. Taking into account the rapid development of electronics, communications, automobile construction, oil and gas industry, the UMP is actively entering the world market with its own products.

UMP’s beryllium products are sold in the USA, Japan, the EU states, Southern Korea. Distribution sales organizations are opened in the Russian Federation (BerylliUM LLC) and People’s Republic of China (Ulba-China Co., Ltd). To master manufacturing of high-value-added products the joint Kazakhstan-China enterprise - Yingtan Ulba Shine Metal Materials was established in 2007 to produce rolled products from beryllium copper. Besides the application in the nuclear power, products are widely used in electronics and radiotechnics.

In recent years beryllium billets and products of large size attract more interest. Among the UMP’s latest achievements on technology improvement is the works on producing large-size billets in the form of sheets with the size exceeding 1000 mm.

In 2008 technological scheme for producing large-size billets by hot pressing method of the previously compacted powder on the cold isostatic pressing machine, was suggested and successfully implemented. The technology developed at Ulba Metallurgical Plant allows to significantly reduce the time for products manufacturing while getting necessary stable characteristics and guaranteed quality. Among the potential consumers of large-size billets or products from beryllium in the form of sheets are the  producers of the panels for ITER’s first wall. Experimental works are planned for 2010 on discs production with the diameter up to  1500 mm. Further on, mastering of higher purity powders production is planned.

 

Ulba Metallurgical Plant is one of the recognized world leaders in the production of fuel pellets from the uranium dioxide for NPPs as well as the products containing beryllium, tantalum and niobium. The enterprise is a part of the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom. In 2009 UMP celebrates its 60-year anniversary.

 

Kazatomprom is the national operator of the Republic of Kazakhstan for export of uranium and its compounds, rare metals, nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants, special purpose equipment, technologies and double-use materials. The main activities of the company are: geological exploration, uranium production, manufacture of nuclear fuel cycle products, reactor construction, nuclear power plants, non-ferrous metallurgy and production of construction materials, the electric energy sector, scientific support of production and social welfare and training of personnel. Today Kazatomprom has more than 25,000 employees and is amongst the leading uranium production companies in the world.

 

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Kazatomprom
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