International Relations

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on Aug 27, 2015 to locate the first internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium in the ex-Soviet nation to ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear proliferation.
The storage facility, set to become fully operational in 2017, is intended to provide IAEA member states with confidence in a steady and predictable supply of fuel even if other routes are disrupted.
The IAEA estimates the cost of the bank at $150 million, which includes the procurement of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and its work for the first 10 years.
The bank will contain up to 90 metric tons of LEU, sufficient to run a 1,000 MWe (megawatt electric) light-water reactor
The bank will be located at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in the northeastern industrial city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. The plant has handled and stored nuclear material, including LEU, safely and securely for more than 60 years
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal, the world’s fourth-largest at the time.
The mineral-rich Central Asian nation of 17.5 million is the world’s largest uranium producer and holds more than 15 percent of global uranium reserves, second only to Australia. It has no nuclear power stations of its own.