Low Enriched Uranium Bank in Kazakhstan Harmless for Population

A Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in Kazakhstan will not harm the environment or attract terrorists, Ambassador at Large of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Barlybay Sadykov said Monday.

ASTANA (Sputnik) – Kazakhstan was appointed an international LEU depository that would provide International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member states with LEU fuel reserves under the organization’s auspices in 2010. Last week IAEA approved the agreement.

"The bank’s establishment in Ust-Kamenogorsk, according to the IAEA and Kazakhstan’s experts, does not pose any threats to the environment and the population of the region," the diplomat said, quoted by Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency.

He added that LEU is not useful to terrorists, since it cannot be used to produce nuclear weapons without complex and expensive infrastructure and enrichment technology.

A number of countries and The Nuclear Threat Initiative nonprofit organization have allocated $150 million to build an LEU bank of up to 90 metric tons at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in the country’s northeast, according to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry.

A final agreement on the establishment of the IAEA LEU bank in Kazakhstan is expected to be signed in August.