UAE officials attend opening of partly-funded IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Bank

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the founding members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in Kazakhstan, Dr. Maytha bint Salem Al Shamsi, UAE Minister of State, said during the official opening ceremony of the bank in capital Astana on Tuesday.

''The UAE donated US$ 10 million to the bank when it was launched,'' she stated.

The UAE delegation was led by Dr. Maytha Al Shamsi, and included Dr. Mohammed Ahmed bin Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan, and Hamad Al Kaabi, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the IAEA.

Dr. Maytha Al Shamsi said the UAE was confident the project would have a positive impact in supporting deployment of peaceful and responsible applications of nuclear energy technology.

''The UAE has four under-construction nuclear plants, the first of which will become operational shortly,'' she stated.

The UAE, she noted, supported programmes and initiatives that provided for safe supply of nuclear fuel and its financial and political support for the nuclear fuel bank underlined its policy to encourage peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The $150m funding that bought between 60 to 80 tonnes of LEU that are stored in the bank came from voluntary contributions to the IAEA from a number of countries and organisations including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which funded US$10m.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano attended a ceremony in the capital Astana to mark the official opening of the IAEA LEU Bank Storage Facility at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMP) in the eastern city of Ust-Kamenogorsk.

Kazakhstan has become a trusted partner of the IAEA, President Nazarbayev stated at the opening ceremony.

Kazakhstan made its next contribution to strengthening the nonproliferation regime in the first place and creating a unique mechanism for the safe supplies of nuclear fuel in the second place," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

The Head of State emphasised that the LEU Bank would function under full control and in official legal possession of the IAEA. He thanked the IAEA decision-makers and the bank donors for their great contribution. "I would like to name them. These are the United States, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, the European Union, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NGO)," he concluded.

"I am confident that the IAEA LEU Bank will make a valuable contribution to international efforts to ensure the availability of fuel for nuclear power plants," Director General Amano told the event which was attended also by representatives of IAEA Member States and donors.

Director General Amano said he was grateful to all donors – including the United States, the European Union, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Nuclear Threat Initiative – "whose generous financial contributions have made this project possible."

The IAEA LEU Bank is part of global efforts to create an assured supply of nuclear fuel to countries in case of disruption of the commercial market or of other existing LEU supply arrangements. Other assurance of supply mechanisms established with IAEA approval include a guaranteed physical reserve of LEU maintained by the Russian Federation at the International Uranium Enrichment Centre in Angarsk, Russian Federation, and a UK assurance of supply guaranty for supplies of LEU enrichment services.