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ALMATY, March 15 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan, the world's largest
uranium producer, may take back some assets from the joint
ventures it has set up in the nuclear sector, President
Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Tuesday.
Some joint venture partners of state nuclear firm
Kazatomprom "are not meeting their obligations", Nazarbayev said
at a meeting with Kazatomprom Chief Executive Askar
Zhumagaliyev, the president's office said in a statement.
"In this regard it is necessary to either ensure that they
(partners) meet their obligations or look into reclaiming those
assets in the interests of our state," Nazarbayev's office
quoted him as saying.
It provided no details and Kazatomprom could not be reached
for comment.
Kazatomprom has joint ventures with French firm Areva
CEPFi.PA , Canada's Cameco CCO.TO , Japan's Sumitomo Corp
8053.T and Kansai Electric Power 9503.T , several Russian
firms including Rosatom and a few Chinese companies.
Kazakhstan produced 23,800 tonnes of uranium last year.
Kazatomprom's share of total output was 13,000 while its joint
venture partners accounted for the remainder.