ASTANA. May 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Work is in progress on plans to set up a nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan, said Timur Zhantikin, chairman of the republican Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's atomic energy committee.
"Work on this project is underway. We are now working out technical details and exploring possibilities regarding this bank's location because we have several options today," Zhantikin told journalists on the sidelines of an international conference on ways of remediation of land contaminated by radioactive material residue in Astana on Monday.
"I believe that should we ever start to put this project into practice, Kazakhstan and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will make an official statement with a proposal to place the bank in the republic," the official said.
National company Kazatomprom and the National Nuclear Center have contributed to this project, which gives top priority to environmental safety issues, he said.
"This project will not be implemented if its potential negative impact on the environment is proved," Zhantikin said.
So far, the IAEA has not received Kazakhstan's official offer to set up a nuclear fuel bank in the republic, said Hans Forstrom, head of the UN nuclear watchdog's department for the nuclear fuel cycle and waste management technologies.