The next generation of advanced gas centrifuges – generation 9+ – will be introduced at Russia’s Urals Electrochemical Combine (UEIP) in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region from 2018, UEIP director general Alexander Belousov said on 29 September.

UEIP, part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL, is the world's largest uranium enrichment enterprise.

The new centrifuges have already passed all the necessary tests and are expected to result in significant energy saving, the plant said. Three blocks of generation 9 centrifuges are currently in operation at UEIP.  The first was launched in December 2013, the second in April 2015 and the third in early December 2015.