Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Kazakhstan Proposes Hosting Nuclear Fuel Bank

Kazakhstan Proposes Hosting Nuclear Fuel Bank (NSI News Source Info) ASTANA - April 7, 2009: Kazakhstan has offered the UN nuclear watchdog its territory to set up a nuclear fuel bank, the president said on Monday at a joint press conference with Iran's leader. "If a nuclear fuel bank is created for the nuclear power industry, Kazakhstan could consider the possibility of placing it on our territory, as a country that signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons," Nursultan Nazarbayev said. In September 2008, the United States said it would allocate $50 million to create a nuclear fuel bank under the International Atomic Energy Agency, and called on all countries to invest funds for the purpose. Some countries have already made the decision to allocate $5-10 million for this task. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he backed Nazarbayev's idea, saying: "We believe Nazarbayev's proposal to create a nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan is a very good proposal."

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