BASIC FACTS

The Republic of Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country, spanning Central Asia into eastern Europe. It shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, and today it is a unitary presidential constitutional republic.

Capital: Nur-Sultan

Kazakhstan has one nuclear power plant (AKTAU) in permanent shutdown since 1999. Its unit is fast-breeder, sodium-cooled BN-350-type reactor that was operated by Kazatomprom and the Ministry of Energy. In 2014, Kazakhstan signed a cooperation agreement with Russia to construct a new power plant with a capacity for 300-1200 MW.

Kazakhstan has two operational research reactors: WWR-K Almaty is a pool-type reactor operated by the Institute for Nuclear Physics (INP), used for transmutation, isotope production, activation analysis, and education & training. INP also operates a critical assembly used for training. IVG-1M is a PWR operated by the Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE), used for materials testing and neutron scattering. IAE also operates a pulse reactor for more materials testing and research.

One of the world’s largest natural uranium deposits is located in Kazakhstan, which produced almost 40% of the world’s uranium supply in 2016. All uranium exploration, mining, and export in the country is controlled by Kazatomprom.

Though it is owned and managed by the IAEA, Kazakhstan hosts the Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank which became operational in 2019. The bank contains 90 metric tons of LEU that was originally provided by France’s Orano Cycle, to be used by IAEA member states in the event of a disruption to a power plant’s fuel supply.

At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan inherited 1410 nuclear warheads and the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, which was used as a primary above- and below-ground testing site for the Soviets between 1949 and 1989. With assistance from the United States and Russia, Kazakhstan repatriated all of its nuclear warheads to Russia by 1995 and had dismantled nuclear testing infrastructure by 2000.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• • • • • Observer of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
        • Member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1994
        • Acceded to Antarctic Treaty in 2015
        • Acceded to Arms Trade Treaty in 2017
        • Acceded to Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 2007
        • Signed Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993
          • Ratified in 2000
        • Signed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996
          • Ratified in 2002
        • Acceded to Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2009
        • Acceded to Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) in 2005
        • Signed International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2005
          • Ratified in 2008
        • Acceded to Moon Treaty (Celestial Bodies) in 2001
        • Acceded to Outer Space Treaty in 1998
        • Signed Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in 1990
          • Ratified in 1992
        • Signed Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (CANFWZ) in 2006
          • Ratified in 2009
        • Acceded to the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1994
        • Signed Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2018
          • Ratified in 2019

REGIONAL GROUPS

• • • • • Member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
        • Member of the Collective Security Treaty Organizations (CSTO)
        • Member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
        • Member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
        • Member of the Asia-Pacific Group

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017/2018
• Member of the 1540 Committee in 2017/2018

LINKS

Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations

KAZATOMPROM National Atomic Company

UN State Summary

Ratifications of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament