Ulba Metallurgical Plant will host Low-enriched uranium bank of IAEA

Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Barlybay Sadykov noted that having the bank in Kazakhstan will, to a certain extent, strengthen Kazakhstan's security. As IAEA's property, the bank will be under a constant attention of the Member States to prevent any attack on it. The creation of a guaranteed LEU reserve will allow the countries that are not looking at building uranium enrichment capacities to have guarantees against unexpected disruptions of supplies of nuclear fuel. According to his information, the Ulba Metallurgical Plant that will host the bank has handled uranium for 60 years and has stored up to 1,500 tons of low enriched uranium. There is no necessity to construct new facilities for the storage of uranium. However, according to the ambassador, the project would still require significant financial investments. Thus, the United States to invest USD 50 million, the American Nuclear Threat Initiative - USD 50 million, governments of the UAE and Kuwait - USD 10 million each, and the government of Norway - USD 5 million.