Kazakhstan to host IAEA's Bank of Nuclear Fuel

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan to host the IAEA's International Bank for low-enriched uranium (LEU), according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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"Kazakhstan to host the International Bank for low-enriched uranium and the IAEA is currently finalizing negotiations on the preparation of the Host agreement related to bank's location. We believe that the development of multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel including the creation of guaranteed nuclear fuel reserves will promote peaceful usage of nuclear energy", stated MFA in connection with the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. One of the advantages of hosting the bank in Kazakhstan will be the very presence of the IAEA in the republic, which will mean a closer attention from that organisation to the host country and a tighter and more thorough control over all stages of operating nuclear units and handling radioactive materials. The official name of the LEU bank is the Bank of Nuclear Fuel, and it is a fuel reserve for nuclear power plants (NPPs). IAEA will own the LEU in the bank, and the LEU will be under its control and in its legal custody. As is known, all nuclear power plants have a certain operating cycle that requires a change of fuel in the reactor. The creation of a guaranteed LEU reserve will allow the countries that are not looking at building uranium enrichment capacities to have guarantees against unexpected disruptions of supplies of nuclear fuel.

In turn, fewer countries with a full nuclear fuel production cycle will reduce the spread of the technologies that can be short of creation of nuclear weapons. As such, the bank will contribute to the non-proliferation and to the overall regional and global security.

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