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Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom, will start extraction of uranium at the Elkonskoye uranium deposit in Yakutia, Agency’s head Sergei Kiriyenko announced in the Yakutian town of Neryungri on October 26.

The project, scheduled to begin in 2012-2013 and having allocations totaling some 90 billion rubles ($3.6 billion), is supposed to satisfy the demands of Russia’s nuclear-power engineering sector, news reports cited Kiriyenko as saying.

For that purpose, a mining and metallurgy factory will be constructed, with uranium production volumes at 5,000 tons per year. Currently, Russia produces only 3,000 tons of uranium per year.

The Elkonskoye deposit has 370,000 tons, or 7 percent, of the word’s uranium reserves, Itar-Tass cited Kiriyenko.

According to Kiriyenko, along with developing the deposit, exploring other uranium deposits will be carried out in the region. “We believe that there are other large uranium deposits in the territory,” the agency quoted the official as saying.

Of all the finances to be allotted into the project, 7.5 billion rubles ($300 million) will come from the federal budget, while the rest of the money will arrive from investments.

Today, Russia has the third largest natural uranium reserves in the world, with deposits exceeding 870,000 tons. Currently, the price for one kilogram of uranium is $200, Itar-Tass cited Kiriyenko.