Officials from KazAtomProm - the world's biggest uranium producer - and the Kazakh government have visited China for talks on enhanced cooperation in the uranium mining and nuclear power sectors. The Kazakh delegation was headed by Askar Mamin, first deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun an eight-day mission to Kazakhstan to assess the status of infrastructure required for the country to launch a nuclear power program. The mission is at the request of the Kazakh government.

Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement to cooperate in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement was signed in Riyadh yesterday during a visit by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Askar Zhumagaliyev, chairman of KazAtomProm, and Igor Nasalik, Ukraine's energy and coal industry minister, have held their second meeting on future cooperation in the nuclear energy sector. The world's biggest uranium producer said in a statement yesterday the meeting focused on production of fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power reactors.

China and Kazakhstan have taken a step closer to the supply of Kazakh fuel pellets to Chinese companies. The relevant documents enabling such transactions are between Ulba Metallurgical Plant, a subsidiary of Kazakh uranium producer KazAtomProm, and CGNPC-URC, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear.

The heads of Kazakh uranium producer KazAtomProm and China's CITIC Group have met to discuss attracting investment to the Central Asian country's nuclear energy sector. Askar Zhumagaliyev and Chang Zhenming met as part of the working visit to China of Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister, Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

The IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Storage Facility - or 'bank' - is scheduled to be ready for operations by September 2017, following the conclusion of a partnership agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan this week.

Cameco and KazAtomProm have agreed to restructure the Inkai jont venture, extending their cooperation in the Kazakh in-situ leach (ISL) uranium project until 2045. The agreement will see Kazatomprom increase its share of the joint venture to 60% with Cameco becoming a minority owner.

The Kazakhstan-United States Energy Partnership Commission yesterday signed a joint statement at a meeting in Kazakhstan that was co-chaired by Kazakh energy minister K A Bosumbayev and US energy secretary Ernest Moniz.

KazAtomProm and ConverDyn have signed an agreement whereby the world's largest uranium producer and the "leading provider" of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) conversion services will jointly and immediately offer uranium in the form of natural UF6 to global utilities. UF6 is the natural uranium feedstock for the enrichment step in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Russia and Kazakhstan are preparing to sign an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in research and development in the nuclear energy sector, Rosatom said yesterday. Vyacheslav Pershukov, the Russian state nuclear corporation's head of design and innovation, led a delegation to Kazakhstan last week to discuss potential joint projects in the sector.

KazAtomProm has signed cooperation agreements with Chinese companies, including one for the development of Kazakh uranium mines and the construction of a nuclear fuel plant in Kazakhstan.