Kazakhstan and weapons of mass destruction
[1] Following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, Kazakhstan became the fourth-largest nuclear power (following Ukraine) in the world and hosted a considerably large weapon support infrastructure due to its reliance on the Soviet nuclear program as a means to develop its own local economy.
[11] The Glasnost' (Russian:Гласность) initiatives led by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986 provided the Kazakhstani people to demand the halt of the Soviet nuclear testing, and it gained more public support when the news of possible radioactive contaminants the testing site emitted became public in 1989.
[12] Named as Nevada Semipalatinsk led by Kazakh activist, Olzhas Suleimenov, successfully halted the Soviet nuclear testing in Semey and it played a positive role in promoting public understanding of "the necessity to fight against nuclear threats and finding solutions to global ecological problems", according to UNESCO.
[13] Between 1989 and 1992, Kazakh activists toured the United States with the Nevada Desert Experience in hopes of spreading awareness about the detrimental and radioactive effects of nuclear testing.
[15][16] On 29 August 1991, the Semipalatinsk-21 was officially closed by the Kazakhstani government as the United States, through its Department of Defense, engage in a mission with the objective of enabling further protection nuclear installations and their safe decommissioning.
[3] In addition, Kazakhstani military also had 40 Tupolev Tu-95 bombers equipped with 320 cruise missiles and hundreds of nuclear weapon support infrastructure.
[3] Despite the growing fears of Iranian acquisition of former Soviet nuclear warheads, the operational command and control of these weapon system had remained under the Russian Rocket Forces in Moscow.
[3] With aging weapon infrastructure and widely reported cancer cases, the Kazakhstani government reached an understanding to denuclearize its territory by returning all nuclear warheads to Russian Federation in 1994 after signing to legal Alma Ata Declaration in 1991.
[21] They also accepted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and assisted in drafting the Central Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (CANWFZ).
[24] In addition to this, health studies surrounding the test site started relatively late, making it difficult to trace the early effects of irradiation.
Conducted by Bauer, et al. in the 1960s was an analysis of a cohort study that included 19,545 inhabitants of exposed and comparison villages around Semipalatinsk that would confirm the detrimental effect of radiation to health.
[25] Possible indicators of early acute effects (1950-1960) have also been identified: In terms of long term early effects, in addition to the increase of mortality and cancer, cardiovascular diseases were more prevalent in the exposed group where the level of cardiovascular disease among 40-49 year-olds was comparable to the levels typically found in 50-59 year old's in the comparison group.
[24] Since its independence, Kazakhstan acted as a model state by cooperating with the removal of its nuclear arsenal whilst fully adopting non-proliferation norms and treaties.
[4] In 2009, by President Nazarbayev’s initiative, the UN proclaimed UNGA Resolution 64/35 that declared 29 August as the International Day of Nuclear Weapons Renunciation.
In 2006, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed the Tashkent Treaty that established a nuclear-weapon free zone in Central Asia.
On 27 August 2015, the IAEA and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to host the world's first Low Enriched Uranium Bank in the Ulba Metallurgical Plant located in Oskemen.
The objective of this assurance-of-supply mechanism is for countries to be less tempted to develop their own nuclear fuel production facilities hence reducing the risk of proliferation.
The initiative was formally born in 2006 when US Senator Sam Nunn, co-chair of the NGO Nuclear Threat Initiative, offered $50 million to the IAEA to create a LEU bank after Director-General ElBaradei called for approaches to tackle the most sensible part of the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium enrichment and plutonium separation, while guaranteeing the material's supply and non-proliferation.
Overall, Kazakhstan's decision to host the LEU Bank can be understood as a notable nuclear diplomacy initiative for the nation and the IAEA.
[24] As part of Operation Sapphire in the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, the United States announced on 23 November 1994, its measure to assist Kazakhstan on the removal of 581 kg of Highly Enriched Uranium from the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust Kamenogorsk.
Before the dissolution of the USSR, Kazakhstan was the most important ground for military-industrial activity, producing more than 70,000 metric tons of natural uranium a year.
Kazatomprom has entered into cooperation agreements and established a number of joint ventures with companies from Russia, Canada, France, China and Japan.
With Japan, Kazatomprom made agreements to supply uranium in return for the technical assistance in fuel cycle developments and nuclear reactor construction.
[25] The agreement with the French multinational company Areva is another joint-venture that will further increase the production of uranium per year to approximately 4,000 tonnes.
[29] In addition, the new technological advancements in ISL operations can increase the production capacity and allow for the development of successful, sustainable uranium mining industries.
