Kazakhstan, Astana, May 18 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
In the event that a nuclear fuel bank is built in Kazakhstan, there will not be an adverse effect on the environment, Kazatomprom head Vladimir Shkolnik believes.
"It will not affect the environment, since it is not waste storage, it's not a radioactive material There radioactivity is the same as in every province of uranium from Aktau to Stepnogorsk," Shkolnik said at a conference on Friday in Astana.
He reminded that previously Kazakhstan offered two sites for placement of the Bank of nuclear fuel, one of which is the territory of the Ulba Metallurgical Plant.
Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov said during the discussion that the issue of nuclear fuel bank has been considered by the IAEA.
"IAEA management decided that Kazakhstan meets all the conditions of placing such a bank. By the end of the year there will be a meeting of the Board of Governors, at which the agreement will be approved and then we can move on to practical steps to deploy a nuclear fuel bank," Umarov said.
He noted that the establishment of a nuclear fuel bank is necessary to ensure that if a country decides to build a nuclear power plant, it could apply through the IAEA to a nuclear fuel bank and get it without creating the production of such fuel in own country.
"Production of nuclear fuel is close to the technologies for the production of nuclear weapons, and a nuclear fuel bank is created in order to avoid the spread of such sensitive technology," Umarov said.