At the 11th International Forum ATOMEXPO 2019, TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM and Hermith GmbH (Germany), a major European titanium supplier, have concluded an agreement on cooperation in the development of titanium production and joint promotion of products to the European and other promising markets.
The signing ceremony was attended by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, and Michael Harms, Director General of the Eastern Committee of German Economy.
The agreement provides for joint production of titanium alloy products with high added value for science-intensive industries such as aviation, automotive and medicine. In particular, it is planned to establish a joint venture for production of aircraft tubular assemblies, special wire for additive production, sonotrodes, automobile suspension components as well as implants and prostheses for application in medicine.
The signing of the document was based on previous successful experience of both parties in joint supplies of titanium products manufactured by the Chepetsky Mechanical Plant (JSC CMP, Glazov, Republic of Udmurtia) to the European market. The partnership development will allow the companies to deepen their industrial cooperation, integrate their technological competences and establish a distributed titanium cluster comprised of Russian and German enterprises.
“The strategy of TVEL Fuel Company is aimed at increasing revenues from non-nuclear businesses by 12 times by 2030, which was more than 13 billion rubles in 2018. One of the most promising areas is metallurgy including manufacturing of titanium products. Since 2010, the revenues of JSC CMP from products based on titanium alloys have grown by more than 10 times, and the multiple growth is expected to continue in years to come exceeding 3 billion rubles around 2020. We hope that our cooperation with Hermith GmbH, a competent European partner, will help TVEL Fuel Company develop high-technology manufacturing of titanium products with maximum added value and strengthen our presence in foreign markets”, noted Natalia Nikipelova, President of JSC TVEL.
“In cooperation with JSC TVEL, we have managed to arrange supplies of semi-finished titanium alloy products to the Western European market within a very short time frame. At present, we envisage moving to a deeper processing of material up to supplies of finished products to aircraft industry manufacturers. The new agreement offers the prospect of establishing an aerospace and additive cluster in Russia which would be oriented at the markets in Western Europe, the United States and Canada”, said Alexey Rasskazov, Director General of Hermith GmbH.
The cooperation between JSC TVEL and Hermith GmbH was launched in late 2016 with the signing of a major contract for supplies of JSC CMP titanium products put on production with support from the German partner. The overall amount of product sales in the European market has exceeded 70 tonnes. In total, more than 100 high technology product names have been put on production, including titanium bars, plates, tubes and wire. The main purchasers in Western Europe include Bombardier, Leonardo, Fucine Umbre, Thyssen Krupp, Vacucast, Permedica and others.
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TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM incorporates enterprises for the fabrication of nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment of uranium, production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and design organizations. It is the only supplier of nuclear fuel for Russian nuclear power plants. TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom provides nuclear fuel for 76 power reactors in 15 countries worldwide, research reactors in eight countries, as well as transport reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet. Every sixth power reactor in the world operates on fuel manufactured by TVEL.
Hermith GmbH was established in 2004 in Munich, Germany, and is a leading European titanium alloy supplier for civil aviation, automotive, chemical and other industries. In 2016, the company was awarded a prize of the German Government in nomination “Best exporting company in Bavaria”. In 2017, Hermith GmbH was certified by TÜV NORD for compliance with EN 9100, EN ISO 9001 standards.
