Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 26
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
Kazakhstan started construction of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) bank, Novosti-Kazakhstan quoted deputy head of Kazakhs Energy Ministry’s Atomic Committee Timur Zhantikin as saying.
Kazakhstan and the IAEA signed an agreement to set up the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium bank in Oskemen, Eastern Kazakhstan in August 2015.
Zhantikin noted that the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium bank will be located in a separate building at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant. The bank will be launched in the second half of 2017, he said.
According to the IAEA, Low Enriched Uranium bank in Kazakhstan will be a physical reserve of up to 90 tons of low enriched uranium, sufficient to run a 1,000 MWe light-water reactor.
Such a reactor can power a big city for three years. The plant has been handling and storing nuclear material, including LEU, safely and securely for more than 60 years.
The establishment and operation of the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Bank is fully funded through $150 million of voluntary contributions from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Norway and Kazakhstan.
Edited by SI
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