TVEL, the fuel supply wing of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, has begun production of TVS-KVADRAT (FA-SQUARE), the new fuel type designed for PWR (pressurized water reactor) plants of Western design.

“A contract on test-industrial operations with one of the US [nuclear power plants] operators is already signed, and we’ll deliver test batch of TVS-KVADRAT fuel assemblies in 2019,” TVEL's Senior VP for Commerce and International Business, Oleg Grigoriev, told reporters at a news conference during the Atomexpo-2017 forum on Tuesday.

TVEL has already received all the necessary documents from the US plant operator enabling the company to adopt Russian fuel for the US reactor.

“We’re determined to sign another contract on test-industrial operations this year with another major US nuclear power plant operator. In all, there’re five companies in the consortium which supports the TVS-KVADRAT program in the US,” Grigoriev added.

Apart from the contract with a US nuclear power plant operator, TVEL signed an agreement last year on commercial delivery of TVS-KVADRAT fuel to Swedish Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel AB which operates the Ringhals nuclear power plant. The commercial deliveries for Sweden are scheduled to start in 2021, according to Grigoriev.

The TVS-KVADRATs are currently produced in volumes needed to meet the demand of the two companies, but TVEL might expand its production if needed.

“There’re possibilities for scaling the production up. It will depend on the market demand,” Grigoriev told reporters on Monday.

The TVS-KVADRAT fuel type is being produced at JSC Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant. The fuel assemblies derive its name from it being square in section, to be compatible with western pressurized water reactors.

During the meeting, ministers discussed changes to an agreement on labor made between the Government of Mongolia, the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions, and the Employers’ Federation. Following the discussion, they agreed to increase pension rates on January 1, 2018.

Deputy Minister of Finance Kh.Bulgantuya said that the average pension rate will be raised by 11 percent, and that 161 billion MNT will be required for pension payments.

Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, Sciences, and Sports Yo.Otgonbayar stated that regulations for the state’s student loan program have been changed. Under the previous regulations, only students who were enrolled full-time in a bachelor’s degree program were eligible to take out a student loan, but the new regulations allow part-time bachelor’s degree, master’s, and PhD students to apply for the program as well. He emphasized that the old regulations only allowed students to get a loan from a bank in their place of permanent residence, but the new regulations allow students to take out a student loan from any bank.

The Deputy Minister noted that the student’s sponsor for a loan application can now be a family member with the changes made to the program’s regulations, or a Mongolian national who wants to help the student can assist by co-signing the loan. He added that students under the age of 18 can apply for a student loan with the help of a sponsor, and that the children of herders can apply for a student loan with terms and conditions specific to herder households.

Yo.Otgonbayar stated that applications for the student loan must be accompanied by seven different documents, but that under the new regulations, a bank can accept the documents in digital format for application review. He added that 41,000 students will now have the opportunity to apply for a student loan thanks to the changes that have been made to the program.

On June 20, Tuesday, German Ambassador Stefan Duppel handed over a copy of the original partitur which is kept in the archive of German DEFA studio to Deputy Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh.

First recorded in the DEFA studio in 1961, the original partitur wasn’t stored in Mongolian musical repertoire.

The Deputy Prime Minister who is heading the Commission in charge of Naadam celebration had made a request to the German side so as to play the film score at the Naadam opening ceremony on July 11.

Expressing his gratitude to the German Ambassador and other officials who made efforts to bring the partitur to Mongolia, Deputy Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh gifted a Morin Khuur.

The ‘Exquisite Mongolia’ documentary film was co-produced by Mongolian Film Factory and the DEFA studio in 1961 in dedication to the 40th anniversary of People’s Revolution.

E.Choidog’s ‘Exquisite Mongolia’ film score is one of the works that won him State Prize.

These high-grade sheep will be used in Mongolian agriculture in accordance with the breeding strategy and policy. “Taishir-Urguu” LLC was selected as the first one to use them for breeding. The offspring of these sheep will be provided by order to private entities engaged in meat and wool production.

Romanov breed: The ewe produces twins with almost each birth. Therefore, Romanov is highly convenient for mass producing muttons. Due to its high reproduction rate, sheep farmers breed Romanov sheep with Suffolk breed sheep. As a result, lambs in spring weight around 60 kg. This requires 4 months of pasture and 2 months of feedings.

Suffolk breed: Suffolk breed ram have average weight of 120-140 kilograms, while the ewes have 70-90 kilograms. A 6-month-old lambs weight equal to 3-year-old Mongolian sheep. Also, these sheep yield 4-5 kilograms of wool.

Merino breed: With an average weight of 130 kilograms for ram and 80 kilograms for ewe, these sheep yield 4.5 to 6.6 kilograms of wool.

Berricon du Cher: A hundred ewes of Berricon du Cher sheep produce around 160-180 lambs in average. Although the number is less than Romanov breed, this breed is highly convenient for breeding. The meats of Berricon du Cher are considered high-quality among other breeds and rams weight 100-140 kilograms, while ewes weight 60-70 kilograms. These sheep grow around 341 kilograms of wool per day and yield 4.5 kilograms of wool.

The first freight train departed from Changsha (China) and arrived in Budapest last week (wk 24).

The overall transit time across the countries with the 1,520 mm track gauge was 13 days. The trip across Mongolia took 3 days, seven days were needed to cross Russia and three for Ukraine.

Felb operated the service, RZD Logistics forwarded the freight and Transcontainer provided the rolling stock. (ben)

Last month, the landlocked country bordering China and Russia decided to open more than one-fifth of its territory for mining exploration, hoping to shore up its finances following an International Monetary Fund-led bailout.

Since mining accounts for around 25% of Mongolia’s GDP and more than 80%of exports, experts believe that increasing mining exploration could potentially raise the Asian nation’s GDP and economic security.

Mongolia also revoked a controversial banking law that would have required companies including Rio Tinto — the country’s biggest investor — to funnel all sales revenues from foreign investment projects through local banks and proposed the wider exploration area.

"I can confirm that we have an exploration drilling programme in licenses outside of the Oyu Tolgoi licenses," Turquoise Hill spokesperson Tony Shaffer told Reuters Tuesday. The Rio-controlled firm holds a 66% stake in the Oyu Tolgoi project. The Mongolian government owns the rest.

While Oyu Tolgoi is the country's highest profile mining operation, Mongolia hosts a number of other copper, gold and coal mines and projects, including Canada’s Erdene Resource Development (TSX:ERD), the company that literally struck gold earlier this year after finding its new gold project was richer than previously thought.

Australian explorer Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM) is also among the established companies in Mongolia, with its underway Kharmagtai copper-gold project, south-east of Ulaanbaatar, returning exceptional results in the first months of this year.