Russia, United States sign uranium deal

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Russia says it has signed a new multi-billion-dollar deal to sell enriched uranium to nuclear utilities in the United States.

The agreement signed Friday in Washington is worth as much as $6 billion during the next 10 years, said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear agency, RIA Novosti reported Saturday.

Kiriyenko met with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and chief executives of U.S. energy companies that own and operate nuclear power plants.

The uranium deliveries, to begin in 2011, will encourage bilateral trade in Russian uranium for "peaceful purposes" and help ensure that utilities in the United States have an adequate source of uranium, Kiriyenko told RIA Novosti.

Russia exports uranium to the United States duty free via the United States Enrichment Corporation, a special intermediary agent which accepts uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons.