Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug 29
By Kamila Aliyeva – Trend:
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency’s (AEIA) Director General Yukiya Amano, the Akorda press service reported, Aug 29.
Amano's visit to Kazakhstan is timed to the opening of the Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank of the IAEA.
“Today's event is the result of many years of joint work to create a bank of low-enriched uranium. This is a very important event for Kazakhstan," Nazarbayev said at the meeting.
He stressed that, Kazakhstan acts as the leader of the global anti-nuclear movement.
"As a state, possessing large volumes of uranium-containing raw materials, we contribute to the peaceful use of the atomic energy," Nazarbayev said.
He also emphasized the comprehensive and strengthening nature of Kazakhstan's cooperation with the Agency.
In turn, the Director General of IAEA stated that, besides the unfolding mutually beneficial cooperation between the Agency and Kazakhstan, the current event became possible due to Nazarbayev’s personal support and participation.
In addition, Amano noted that, along with the opening of the low-enriched uranium storage building, issues of procurement and transportation of these types of raw materials are as important.
The IAEA LEU Bank will be a physical reserve with the capacity of up to 90 tons of LEU, sufficient to run a 1,000 MWe light-water reactor. Such a reactor can power up a large city for three years. The IAEA LEU Bank will be located at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Oskemen in north-eastern Kazakhstan. It will act as a supplier of LEU for the IAEA Member States, in cases when there is a shortage of LEU on the global or local markets.