White House welcomes agreement to establish IAEA LEU Bank in Kazakhstan

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The statement by the National Security Council Spokesperson Ned Price on the occasion of the signing of the agreement on the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Low Enriched Uranium Bank in Kazakhstan, distributed by the White House, states that "The Government of Kazakhstan, by volunteering to host the LEU Bank, which was first conceived and funded by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, has further cemented its reputation as a world leader in promoting nonproliferation and nuclear security."

The statement notes that "through this initiative, Member States of the IAEA will be able to access a ready reserve of nuclear material for fueling peaceful power reactors should they have difficulties securing such material on the international market. The IAEA and its Member States have worked tirelessly for many years to realize the fruition of this common goal." The statement further explains that in Prague in 2009, President Obama called for the development of an international fuel bank to ensure all countries could access peaceful nuclear power without increasing the risks of proliferation, Kazinform has learnt from the Kazakh MFA's press service. As is known, the next day after that speech by the U.S. President in the Czech capital, on April 6, 2009, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in a joint press conference with the then President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expressed firm support for such an idea and Kazakhstan's readiness to host such an institution on its territory in case it is established. The statement from the White House notes that "the President appreciates President Nazarbayev's important leadership on nonproliferation spanning more than two decades." The document also explains that in 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the American Assured Fuel Supply, a reserve stockpile of nuclear power reactor fuel material created by down-blending surplus highly enriched uranium from the U.S. weapons program. "The American Assured Fuel Supply, along with similar programs by the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom, complement the IAEA's LEU Bank and, taken together, give countries that are pursuing peaceful nuclear power programs a reliable supply of material for power reactor fuel in case of market disruptions. This helps reduce the incentives for countries to develop costly and concerning domestic programs to enrich uranium for their reactors," the statement notes.