Wednesday, August 15, 2012 -
The chief of Kazakhstan’s national nuclear agency Kazatomprom said Wednesday that the Astana government will not sell uranium to Iran under its commitment to ensure the power metal is used only for peaceful purposes.
“Whenever we export uranium to some country, we first obtain assurances that this particular country won’t be using the materials for any other purposes than for fuelling nuclear power plants,” Kazatomprom head Vladimir Shkolnik was cited by Newskaz.ru as saying.
He said the shipment of uranium from Kazakhstan and the other producers is tracked by an international control system.
The United States and a number of other countries are concerned that Iran aims to build a nuclear weapon and have put economic pressure on Tehran to give international nuclear experts full and unhindered access to its nuclear facilities.
He also told the conference Kazatomprom has secured deals to supply uranium to a number of international clients over the next 15 years.
“We have seriously expanded our presence in European countries,” the state-run Kazinform.kz news agency cited Shkolnik as saying.
Turning to plans by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to build an international depositary nuclear fuel bank, the Kazakh nuclear chief said Kazakhstan will hold a new round of talks with the agency in mid-September.
Astana has offered to host the IAEA fuel bank on its own territory.