China may act as transit route for new fuel bank, says Kazakh official

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is considering the option of China as a transit route for low-enriched uranium (LEU) to the planned international fuel bank in Kazakhstan, a Kazakh government official has told local journalists.

On 18 June, the IAEA and Russia signed an agreement on the transit of LEU to and from the fuel bank, which is expected to be in operation by 2017, through the territory of the Russian Federation. But Timur Zhantikin, deputy chairman of the Kazakh energy ministry's nuclear and power supervisory committee, said that Russia was not the only transit territory being considered.

"A second agreement is now being worked out with China; we have two routes, through Russia and through China," Zhantikin said, according to news agency Novosti-Kazakhstan. "Let the IAEA do the work with China; it's a matter for them." The transit of LEU to Kazakhstan across the Caspian Sea is also possible "in principle", he said. That region "is not very stable, so to speak", but this option is being "held in reserve", he said. Zhantikin was talking to reporters in Astana at a briefing on the creation of the fuel bank.

The IAEA's Board of Governors on 11 June approved the text of two agreements - one with Kazakhstan on the establishment of an LEU fuel bank in that country and one with Russia on the transit of the fuel to and from this facility. The signing of the former agreement is to coincide with the International Day Against Nuclear Tests on 29 August.

The so-called host state agreement between the IAEA and Kazakhstan covers the establishment of the facility to be hosted at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in north-eastern Kazakhstan. The repository, which the agency is referring to as the IAEA LEU Bank, is intended to provide an assurance of supply mechanism of last resort. Owned and controlled by the IAEA but operated by Kazakhstan, the bank's safety and security will be governed by Kazakhstan's legal and regulatory requirements. It must also comply with applicable IAEA safety standards and security guidance, and will be subject to IAEA safeguards.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News