(Yicai Global) Aug. 18 -- China has dispatched its first big overseas shipment of nuclear-grade zirconium sponge, used in the cladding of fuel rods which power a nuclear reaction.

A unit of the China National Nuclear has sent a shipment of the key material for nuclear reactors to Russia, the state-owned firm said in a statement on its WeChat account yesterday.

China used to import all of its zirconium sponge before August 2019 when the China Nuclear Jinghuan Zirconium Industry obtained the qualifications to produce the raw material needed to make zirconium alloys for nuclear power plants.

In May, CNNC's subsidiary penned a deal with Moscow-based TVEL Fuel Company's Chepetsky Mechanical Plant to deliver the order by a combination of sea and railway transport in early September.

Editor: Emmi Laine