OREANDA-NEWS. For TENEX, the year 2013 has been a special one, as it marked the company's 50th birthday and saw its staff awarded a Certificate of Honour from the Government of the Russian Federation in the run-up to the anniversary celebration, held in June.

The Company's history is filled with many milestones signifying the entry into new segments of the global market and venture into new business fields.

Among the most significant of these is, obviously, the smooth performance of the almost 20-year-long programme to supply low enriched uranium (LEU) to be used as fuel by US nuclear power stations in pursuance of the Russia-US intergovernmental agreement concerning the disposition of highly enriched uranium (HEU) extracted from nuclear weapons, dated 18 February 1993 (HEU-LEU Agreement).

In December 2013, the final consignment of LEU under the HEU-LEU Agreement was delivered to the United States, thus rendering the Russian side's obligations fully discharged.

Despite a fall in prices in the uranium market, this year has also witnessed the achievement of the targets set by State Corporation Rosatom for TENEX's key production and financial&economic performance indicators in 2013.

Total export value exceeded USD 3 billion. The value of confirmed orders over a ten-year period has also increased from the previous year, reaching an estimated USD 25 billion at comparable prices.

Over a dozen new deals have been made for the delivery of uranium products to energy companies in the United States and countries of Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

Work has continued to create a system of material accounts in Russia: in June 2013, TENEX signed a material account agreement with Kazakhstan's NAC Kazatomprom, a move that will help streamline the mechanisms for servicing the foreign customers that the two companies share.

Another, important step has been taken by TENEX in its ongoing effort to fine-tune the way it operates the new shipping route for Russian uranium products via the country's Far East: the first, successful, delivery in October 2012 was followed by the shipment of two consignments of enriched uranium from the port of Vostochny in Russia's Primorye Territory. The cargo was smoothly transloaded by Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company (VSC), the largest supplier of these services in the region. These shipments serve as a practical proof that the Far East transport corridor is suitable for regular commercial deliveries to Asia-Pacific countries.

Witness audits conducted in 2013 by Germany's certifying body TUV Thuringen e.V. confirmed the compliance of TENEX's operations with the requirements of the international standards ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, and ISO 28000:2007.