Kazakhstan's Nuclear Disarmament; A Global Model for a Safer World

Washington DC: Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States of America and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, 2006. Presumed First Edition/First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. xiii, [1], 208 pages. This book examines the NTI-Kazatomprom project and its significance for resucing nuclear dangers. It includes speeches from the symposium, a detailed history of the project and related news articles. The book also explains the history and related circumstances that influenced Kazakhstan's ultimate decision to abandon its nuclear program. The joint NTI-Kazatomprom project aimed to permanently eliminate nuclear fuel containing 2,900 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU). This material, if it had fallen into the wrong hands, could have been used to make up to two dozen nuclear bombs. Instead, the material is being blended down to safe, non-weapons usable forms of uranium for use in commercial and scientific activities. This project was carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). DOE is supporting Kazakhstan in decommissioning the BN-350 reactor, which required elimination of all fissile material from the reactor site. The project involved several steps: Nuclear workers in Aktau loaded onto rail cars fresh HEU fuel assemblies designed, but never used, for the BN-350 reactor. The fuel assemblies were transported to the Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMP) in Ust-Kamenogorsk, where security upgrades had been installed to permit HEU storage. A blend-down line and additional security upgrades to allow HEU processing were designed, licensed and installed at UMP to carry out the operations. Costs of the project, approximately $2 million, were shared equally between NTI and Kazatomprom. The IAEA applied safeguards during transport, commissioning, and downblending. The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is a non-profit organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Governed by an international Board of Directors with members from ten countries, NTI is working to reduce the spread and risk of use of weapons of mass destruction around the globe.