Vladimir Smirnov (businessman)
During his tenure at Tenex, Smirnov contributed to reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation through the elimination of weapons-grade uranium and its transformation into electricity-producing fuel.The first artificial satellite in 1957, Yuri Gagarin’s flight in 1961 and the successful launch of Buran spacecraft in 1988 are among the achievements of Soviet astronautics accomplished due to the university's staff, students and graduates.Tenex's story began in 1949 when a special working group of ten people was set up within the All-Union Association Technoexport under the Soviet Union's Foreign Trade Ministry.In 1989, the company established its first subsidiary Internexco GmbH in Germany and the year after in 1990, Tenex supplied natural uranium to the United States and the European Union.During this period, Tenex also signed long-term contracts until 2020 on the system of guaranteed supplies of low-enriched uranium for almost all of the world's nuclear power plants.[14] In 2003, Smirnov announced a milestone in the effort in reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation through the elimination of weapons-grade uranium and its transformation into electricity-producing fuel.[15] This was presented by Smirnov during a news conference in Washington D.C.[16] Smirnov supervised the "Megatons to Megawatts Program" between Russia and the United States, allowing Russia to supply the United States with low-enriched uranium obtained from highenriched uranium found to be in excess of Russian defense purposes.In addition, a sponsorship program for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and environment protection activities of Russian and foreign social organizations was established at Tenex between 2002 and 2007, upon the initiative of Vladimir Smirnov.Tenex notably sponsored the Peace Concert which took place in Zug, Switzerland, on 13 October 2002, with the participation of the ensemble led by V. Spivakov.