Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
8/28/2015
The government of Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday signed a formal agreement establishing a facility in the country’s northeast that will provide a reliable supply of low-enriched reactor fuel to IAEA member states. The fuel bank, set to open in two years at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, is intended to support civilian nuclear power programs while deterring countries from pursuing enrichment technology that could lead to nuclear weapons breakout capabilities. The facility, authorized by the IAEA in 2010, will be backed by an initial $50 million commitment from the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the financial support of the United States, European Union, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Norway.
In his 2009 speech in Prague, President Barack Obama called for “a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so that countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation.” He added that this access “must be the right of every nation that renounces nuclear weapons, especially developing countries embarking on peaceful programs.”
National Security Council spokesman Ned Price noted in a statement that similar programs by the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom, including the American Assured Fuel Supply announced in 2011, complement the fuel bank in Kazakhstan. This week’s agreement, which follows a transit agreement signed in June by the IAEA and Russia to transport LEU to the fuel bank, must now be ratified in the Kazakhstan Parliament.
“The Government of Kazakhstan, by volunteering to host the LEU Bank, which was first conceived and funded by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, has further cemented its reputation as a world leader in promoting nonproliferation and nuclear security,” Price said in the statement. Former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-chairman of NTI, said at the ceremony that “locating the fuel bank in Kazakhstan is a cornerstone in developing a new and improved approach to managing the risks associated with producing fuel for civil nuclear power.”
