The Republic of Kazakhstan is a country located in the northern hemisphere (at the junction of Europe and Asia) between 55 ° 26 'and 40 ° 56' north latitude and between 45 ° 27 'and 87 ° 18' east longitude, i.e. it extends into the central part of the Eurasian continent and is split in two parts: a smaller part, about 5% of the country, is on the extreme eastern tip of Europe, and the rest is in Asia. The total length of the country’s border is about 14,000 km. Kazakhstan borders the Russian Federation to the north and west for a length of 7591 km, the longest land border in the world between two countries. To the east, Kazakhstan borders China for 1782 km. To the south it borders Kyrgyzstan for 1241.6 km, Uzbekistan for 2354 km and Turkmenistan for 426.0 kilometers. It has the 9^th largest land area in the world with 2,724,900 km². It has a coastline of 2,320 kilometers on the Caspian Sea.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a unitary state with a presidential form of administration. The head of state is the President. State authority in Kazakhstan is uniform and includes legislative power realized by the Parliament, executive power realized by the Government, which consist of central organs (ministries, departments and agencies) and local organs (akimats), judicial power realized by state courts (The Supreme court and local courts). The people are the only source of state power. Fundamental principles of the Republic are public concord and political stability, economic development for the benefit of all people, patriotism and resolution of the most important issues of state by democratic methods, including voting through republican referendum or in Parliament. In Kazakhstan, public and private properties are recognized and equally protected.

The climate is strongly continental, but with wide variations throughout the territory. Average temperatures in January range from -19ºC in the north to -3ºC in the south; July averages are 19ºC in the north and 30ºC in the south. Temperature can reach +49ºC in South Kazakhstan and -57ºC in the Aqmola region. Levels of precipitation are equally varied with average annual rainfall in mountainous regions reaching 1,600 mm and less than 100 mm in central desert areas. The lowest point is Vpadina Kaundy at 132 m below sea level and the highest point is Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) at 6,995 m above sea level.

Kazakhstan's population according to the 2009 census is about 15.98 million, with than 100 nationalities, but mainly Kazakh and Russian. At the beginning of 2008, the population growth rate is estimated about 7%; the population density is estimated at 5.9 people per km²(Table 1).

FIG 1. Ethnic compostion of Kazakhstan

TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION

Source: The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on statistics

Kazakhstan possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves, as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also is a large agricultural – livestock and grain – producer. Kazakhstan’s industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector, specializing in construction of equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed high rate of growth due largely to its booming energy resources sector, but also due to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment.

The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. During the last years the volume of mined and exported hydrocarbon raw products has tripled. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from over-dependence on the oil sector, by developing light industry. The national economic development plan is focused on:

1. The increase by 2015 of annual oil mining up to 150 million tons and to become one of the top five oil producing countries;

2. The construction in Uralsk of a plant that will produce pipes for transcontinental oil- and gas pipelines;

3. The development of attendant mineral resource fields (sulphur, radium, bismuth, etc.);

4. The achievement by 2030 of an annual uranium mining capacity of 15,000 tons;

5. The intensification of the uranium raw material processing cycle – from fuel pellet production to the production and export of energy.

Historical gross domestic product (GDP) data are given in Table 2.

TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Source: The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on statistics

Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves (see Table 3) as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also is a large agricultural – livestock and grain – producer. Kazakhstan’s industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items.

TABLE 3. ESTIMATED ENERGY RESERVES

* Solid, Liquid: Million tons; Gas: Billion m³; Uranium: Metric tons; Hydro, Renewable: TW

(1) This total represents essentially recoverable reserves.

(2) For comparison purposes a rough attempt is made to convert hydro capacity to energy by multiplying the gross theoretical annual capability (World Energy Council – 2002) by a factor of 10.

Source: Statistical Yearbook.

Power plants fuelled with coal and crude oil are the basis of Kazakhstan’s electrical energy. Coal is the country’s largest industry, with planned further development if corresponding investments are secured. Coal reserves are estimated at 64 billion tons. Annual hard coal production is about 111.8 million tons; brown coal production is estimated at 4.6 million metric tons. Kazakhstan also has a well-developed oil and gas industry. More than 1,600 oil and gas fields have been located in Tengiz and Karachaganak, containing more than 2.9 billion tons of conditional fuel. Natural gas production was estimated at 5,416 million m³in 1993. Kazakhstan has begun building a major oil pipeline, 1,200 km from the west to the east. Construction of three new oil refineries is planned. Every year, about 25 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons and 7 billion m³ of natural gas are extracted. About 20% of the world’s uranium reserves are in Kazakhstan.

Information not available.

TABLE 4. ENERGY STATISTICS (EJ)

Kazakhstan is a net energy exporter, with large reserves of uranium, oil and coal. Fossil-fired power plants are the basis of the electric energy. The energy policy aims to achieve energy independence through electric power production with maximum use of cheap, low-grade coal. Introduction of nuclear power is included as a necessary option for energy security.

There are six gas pipelines that connect Kazakhstan to other central Asian republics and Russia, but the gas producing regions in the western part of Kazakhstan are not connected to the populous southeast and industrial north parts of the country. Kazakhstan has a major need for more gas pipelines. Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources, but its power sector needs considerable rehabilitation and upgrading to improve the efficiency of energy production and use. The TRACECA Program (Transport System Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is developing an East-West corridor from Central Asia, through the Caucasus, across the Black Sea to Europe.

Kazakhstan is in the process of transition toward a free market, privatization in energy, and encouraging foreign investment to exploit oil and gas resources of the country. In 1997, the government of Kazakhstan issued a decree on privatization and restructuring in the energy sector. Through this decree, all companies in the energy sector have gone through an incorporation process and are legally prepared for future privatization and restructuring. The Ministry of Oil and Gas and Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan are the main government entity responsible for implementing the policy.

The energy policy of Kazakhstan aims to achieve energy independence through electric power production with maximum use of its cheap, low-grade coal. Table 4.5 shows the dynamical increase of the production of coal, oil and natural gas in the last few years.

TABLE 4.5. DOMESTIC COAL, OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION

Information not available.

The total length of electric lines of all voltages is more than 460,000 km. The first section of the international Siberia-Kazakhstan-Ural transmission line (1,900 km) is operational. This line is expanded to the south to connect north and south Kazakhstan and the power grids in Central and Middle Asian countries. Electricity production is given in Table 5.

The biggest producers of electricity in Kazakhstan are - the "Euro-Asian Power Corporation" (in 1998 14% of total power production), the Joint-stock Company "GRES-2" Pavlodar Region (8.9%), the "Kazakhmis Corporation" (8.5%), the Closed Joint-stock Company "Almaty Power Consolidated" (7.8%), the Open Joint-stock Company "Ispat-Karmet" (6.8%), LLP, "Karaganda Power" (4.4%) and the Joint-stock Company "Aluminium of Kazakhstan" (3.9%).

TABLE 5. ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION AND CAPACITY

* – Preliminary data

TABLE 6. ENERGY RELATED RATIOS

Source: The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on statistic

The nuclear scientific-industrial complex in Kazakhstan was established as a unified part of the atomic industry and science in the former Soviet Union.

Kazakhstan's uranium industry consists of uranium prospecting firms, a number of natural mines using mining and underground leaching techniques, and a metallurgical plant producing fuel pellets for NPP fuel assemblies. The power plant at Aktau (MAEC) was shut down in June 1999. It consisted of natural gas units and a nuclear unit. The latter unit is a BN-350 sodium cooled fast neutron reactor.

On the territory of the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site three research reactors are engaged in testing and development of nuclear space engines and safe nuclear power plants (NPP). The fourth research reactor is located at the RSE Institute of Nuclear Physics, near Almaty.

The following enterprises are involved in the nuclear industry:

RSE "Institute of Nuclear Physics," situated in Almaty;

NNC, situated in Kurchatov, has the following branches:

"Institute of Atomic Energy"

"Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology";

Information not available.

TABLE 7. STATUS AND PERFORMANCE OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AS OF 31 DECEMBER 2011

BN-350 reactor facility - fast neutron sodium-cooled reactor - is located near Aktau city in the part of the eastern Caspian Sea shore belonging to the Republic of Kazakhstan. It was designed and built for electricity generation and seawater desalination for the Aktau region.

The BN-350 reactor was commissioned in 1973 and operated for its design life of 20 years.

In 1993, on the basis of estimation of actual reactor condition, qualified personnel availability and taking into consideration significant progress in fulfillment of measures by safety enhancement, a lifetime extension until 2003 was granted. Thereafter it operated on the basis of annual licenses of the regulatory body - The Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee (KAEC) and positive findings of its safety level from General Designer (VNIPIET, St. Peterburg, Russian Federation), Chief Designer (OKBM, Nizhni Novgorod, Russian Federation) and research Manager (FEI, Obninsk, Russian Federation) of reactor facility.

Due to financial and technical problems it was concluded that the further use of the reactor is not safe. In April 1999, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted the Decree on the Decommission of BN-350 reactor.

As the decision on the reactor decommissioning was adopted before the end of scheduled operation (2003), the plan to decommission the BN-350 reactor had not yet been developed. To determine the activities required for ensuring reactor safety and preparation for decommissioning, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan had developed and approved a "Plan of priority measures on BN-350 reactor decommissioning". This plan has the status of managerial and ruling document and defines the activity on provision of safety for the BN-350 and preparation of decommissioning while the "Project of BN-350 Decommissioning" is being approved. By now, the following activities have been fulfilled:

1. All spent nuclear fuel had been transferred from the interim spent fuel storage facility at the BN-350 site to the long-term spent fuel storage facility at Baikal-1 site.

2. Drainage of primary radioactive sodium has been carried out and is in storage vessels. Secondary nonradioactive sodium is drained and utilized.

3. Technical design of the Liquid Radioactive Waste Processing Facility has been developed.

4. Technical task for the Solid Radioactive Waste Processing Facility design has been developed.

5. The main works on Combined Engineering and Radiation Survey (KIRO) of systems and components of primary and secondary cooling circuits, as well as of other reactor plant engineering systems and external communications have been completed.

Scheduled decommissioning phases

Management of fuel removal

Now WWR-K is in a stage of conversion of nuclear fuel to low enriched nuclear fuel. 278 fuel assemblies were returned to the Russian Federation between December 2008 and May 2009. Testing of experimental fuel assemblies with LEU fuel are being carried out.

Reference Section 2.2.1.

No information available.

A joint resolution on nuclear safety and technical support for nuclear energy facilities in Kazakhstan was signed between the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Agency (KAEA) and Russian Federation's Ministry of Atomic Energy in the 1990’s.

The BN-350 reactor was designed and constructed by organizations of the former Soviet Union, under the supervision of the Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM). The chief scientific supervisor is the Institute of Physics and Power engineering (IPPE, Obninsk). The chief designer is the Experimental Design Bureau on Machinery Building (OKBM-N, Novgorod), and main constructor is the All Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute for Power Technologies (VNIIPIET, Moscow). The plant is operated by "MAEC-Kazatomprom" LLP, which is affiliated enterprise of the National Atomic Company "KAZATOMPROM". At the present, the regulatory body supervising the plant safety is the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee (KAEC).

The BN-350 reactor is owned by National Atomic Company "KAZATOMPROM" and operated by LLP "MAEC-Kazatomprom". The reactor was shut down according the decree of the Kazakhstan Government on April 22, 1999. The decision was taken to place it into SAFSTOR state for 50 years with subsequent final dismantling. Now the works on putting of the reactor into SAFSTOR are carrying out. The fuel is unloaded and packaged into canisters and now they are in a temporary store in the reactor cooling ponds. TUKs with spent fuel are transferred from BN-350 site long-term spent fuel storage facility at Baikal-1 site.

About 220 people are working at the power plant. There are 5 shifts. The task of these shifts is maintenance of the reactor in nuclear, radiation and fire safety.

Information not available.

Kazakhstan has more than 50 uranium deposits in six provinces: the Kokshetau province in the north and the Pribalkhashsky province in the south have endogenetic type uranium deposits; Iliskaya, Chu-Sarysu, Syr-Dariya, and Prikaspiy provinces have endogenic type deposits. Deposits in Chu-Sayusu and Syr-Dariya provinces are located in sand penetrating sediments and are useful for in-situ leaching processes.

Waste from uranium mining and milling constitutes more than 90% of all radioactive waste in Kazakhstan. Therefore, implementation of the Republic's Concept on the radioactive waste management is the main task.

The Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMZ) started production of UO₂ fuel pellets in 1976. Physical and chemical technologies are used at all stages of production, from treatment of UF6 material, to conversion into UO₂, production of UO₂ pellets, and sintering of the pellets. Quality control is maintained during all process stages. The design capacity of the plant is 2,000 tons of pellets per year. Fuel assemblies from UMZ are used at nuclear power plants in Russia, the Ukraine, and other countries. The U²³⁵ content is 1.6-5 %. UMZ also produces rare earth metal products and super conducting materials.

Kazakhstan has four research reactors at the National Nuclear Centre where the following research is carried out:

1. radiation material science; study of the interaction between construction materials and coolants; investigation of fission produced emission from fuel rods, its precipitation and filtration under different conditions;

2. safety of nuclear power plants; fuel assemblies and rod tests at transition and break-down modes of operation; simulation of reactor core fragment melting and interaction of melted material with coolant;

3. development and implementation of nuclear physics methods and technologies; production of isotopes for different applications, for example, thallium-201 chloride for early diagnostics of heart decease.

Kazakhstan national projects under the program of technical cooperation with

IAEA for 2012-2014

European Regional projects of IAEA for 2009-2011 in which Kazakhstan is taking part

The current policy in the field of atomic energy emphasizes:

1. maintenance of existing facilities in accordance with international safety standards;

2. support of scientific, technical, design and construction connections with Russian Federation and other CIS countries and establishing contacts with international organizations;

3. creation of state system of accountancy and control of nuclear materials in accordance with Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations and Agreement on Safeguards that is expected to be ratified by Presidential Decree in the near future;

4. improvement of regulations for congruence with other CIS regulations;

5. liquidation of results of nuclear explosions;

6. creation of a radioactive waste storage and disposal system.

The Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee (KAEC) is the Nuclear Regulatory Body of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The following laws and regulations determine the procedure for licensing:

1. Law on licensing;

2. Law on use of atomic energy;

3. Provision on licensing rules and qualifying requirements claimed to licensable kinds of activities in the sphere of atomic energy use

The licensing stages for nuclear installations can be briefly represented as follows:

1. Application for the License;

2. Analysis of application materials;

3. Inspection at the nuclear installation;

4. Conclusion on application materials examination;

5. Conclusion on nuclear installation inspection;

6. General conclusion on obtaining license; License.

The following laws are relevant for nuclear energy:

1. Law on use of atomic energy;

2. Law on radiation safety of population;

3. Law on licensing;

4. Ecology Code

5. Provision on licensing rules and qualifying requirements claimed to licensable kinds of activities in the sphere of atomic energy use

6. Regulation on the Atomic Energy Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

7. Technical rules “Nuclear and radiation safety of research nuclear facilities”, adopted by the Government Provision, July 1, 2010

8. Technical rules “Nuclear and radiation safety of NPP”, adopted by the Government Provision, July 1, 2010

9. Technical rules “Nuclear and radiation safety”, adopted by the Government Provision, July 30, 2010

All regulating documents have been compiled into a "List of main technical documents of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of atomic energy use”.

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

BILATERAL AGREEMENTS

1. The Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Peaceful use of Atomic Energy.

2. The Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on Transportation of fission materials.

3. Agreement of KAEA and GAN of the Russian Federation on co-operation in the field of nuclear safety.

4. Agreement of KAEA and NRC of the USA on technical information exchange and co-operation in the field of nuclear safety.

5. The Agreement for Co-operation between the United States of America and the Republic of Kazakhstan concerning Peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

6. The Agreement for co-operation between European Atomic Energy Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of nuclear safety.

7. The Agreement for co-operation between European Atomic Energy Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of guided nuclear fusion.

8. The Agreement for cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Kazakhstan concerning Peaceful uses of nuclear energy.