Tag Archives: nuclear

Turkmenistan joins global atomic energy agency

SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has become the 166th member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global body charged with developing and encouraging the safe use of nuclear power, media reported.

While Turkmenistan’s accession to the IAEA may not have any major policy implications it is another signifier that Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov wants to bring the country more into the international mainstream.

Turkmenistan normally stays away from joining international organisations.

IAEA members ratified Turkmenistan’s membership at their 59th annual summit in Vienna. also joining this year were the east African country of Djibouti, Guyana in South America and Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean.

Neutrality is enshrined in Turkmenistan’s constitution and not damaging this long-held policy would have been a key consideration for Mr Berdymukhamedov.

He has steadily moved Turkmenistan into the international mainstream, mainly to exploit Turkmenistan’s gas reserves.

It holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Kazakhstan to host nuclear fuel bank

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a deal with the Kazakh government to host the first internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium, an agreement that will boost Kazakhstan’s global stature. The idea is that countries can ask to tap into the supply for fuel for their power stations and prevent any unilateral nuclear build up.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Armenia receives World Bank power warning

JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia faces a chronic shortage of electricity within three to four years unless it brings online extra generating capacity, the World Bank said in a report.

Power generation in Armenia is particularly controversial as it involves the Metsamor nuclear power station outside Yerevan.

Metsamor, built in the 1970s, generates around 40% of Armenia’s power but is considered a danger by the European Union because of its aging technology and location in an earthquake-prone zone. It has recommended that the power station is closed down although Armenia earlier this year elected to bring a Russian company in to extend the lifespan of the power station.

Lora Bailly, head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, said that even with Metsamor generating power, Armenia still faced a problem.

“Our analysis suggests that in the near future Armenia will need additional capacity to avoid power shortages. It is very important in three to four years to put into operation a new thermal power unit,” she said at a press conference in Yerevan.

And next year the Armenian government plans to close the Metsamor power station for six months for repairs.

Ms Bailly said that Armenia could supplement its current power generation with thermal power.

This month electricity shortages have been in focus in Armenia. The state regulators have just approved a 17% increase in electricity prices, the third rise in two years, irritating many Armenians. Opposition groups have promised protests.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)

Kazakhstan to accept low-enriched uranium

JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will start to take shipments of low-grade enriched uranium from 2017, Timur Zhantikin, an official in the Kazakh energy ministry said, two years after original hoped-for start date.

Uranium has been an important part of Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet story. When it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan inherited a batch of nuclear weapons. Rather than selling them, abandoning them or hoarding them, Kazakhstan turned the nuclear weapons over to the US to be deposed of safely, winning plaudits around the world.

Since then, eager to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has promoted Kazakhstan as a leader in nuclear-disarmament.

Now it has struck a deal with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s nuclear watchdog, to host a bank of low grade enriched uranium.

Countries can apply for enriched uranium if projects have been approved for peaceful purposes.

The two year delay in setting up the nuclear bank is only a minor nuisance. It should still be a boon to Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Head of Kazakhstani nuclear agency dies on China trip

MARCH 25 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Kapparov, a key member of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s inner cortege and head of the Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom, died of a suspected heart attack while on a business trip to Beijing. He was 44-years-old.

Slick and Western-educated, Kapparov was part of the post-Soviet wave of loyal bureaucrats who helped Nazarbayev retain his grip on power. Having headed state energy company KazakhOil, been Kazakhstan’s environment minister and, most recently, head of the state nuclear agency KazAtomProm, sources said that Kapparov had the potential to be a senior government minister.

While he never openly showed such lofty ambition, his presence in and around the government was keenly felt. He acted in the shadows, influencing Kazakhstan’s transition to a more nationalist energy policy. In 2000, as a young vice-minister of energy he was able to negotiate an increase in Kazakhstan’s share of the Tengiz oil field, to the detriment of the US’s Chevron.

Kapparov was also a powerful businessman. The Lancaster Group — which can be traced back to him — is the conduit through which several joint ventures with oil and mining multinationals accessed the Kazakh market. With strong ties to ENI and Saipem, Kapparov had been president of the Kazakhstan-Italy Business Council.

Kapparov had been in China together with Kazakh PM Karim Massimov to strike a handful of multi-billion dollars deals. Ahead of the main deal-making day, he was discovered on the floor of a lavatory in a Beijing restaurant. He had died of a suspected heart attack.

Hundreds gathered in Almaty to mourn his death at the Academy of Sciences although, importantly, veterans and state officials were bussed in to increase attendance. The divide between the government and ordinary people in Kazakhstan is such that enough the sudden death of senior officials is greeted with indifference.

Ambition and acumen brought Kapparov to power and his loss will be felt by the government.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

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Copyright — The Conway Bulletin

Toshiba looking to build Kazakh nuclear power station

JAN. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba is negotiating with Kazakhstan to build a new nuclear reactor, media reported. Kazakhstan has been looking to build a new nuclear power station for years. It has earmarked a position for the power station but not yet started work.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Russia helps on new nuclear plant in Kazakhstan

May 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Kazakhstan signed a deal with Russia to build a new nuclear plant in Kurchatov, a city in the north-east of the country. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has said for years that he wanted to build another nuclear power plant, although the location and partners needed to build it had not been specified.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Kazakhstan’s police arrests Kazatomprom executive

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh police arrested Valery Shevelyov, a director at Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom, and his deputy, Serik Abdrazakov, for corruption. In 2009, Kazakhstan jailed Mukhtar Dzhakishev, then head of Kazatomprom and an opposition figurehead, for 14 years for corruption.

(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Kazakhstan buys nuclear assets

NOV. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Igor Shkolnik, son of the head of Kazakhstan’s nuclear agency Kazatomprom, has bought a 14.9% stake in Russia’s Exillon Energy for about $115m, media reported. In 2011 Mr Shkolnik bought a stake in the Orsk refinery, Russia, from Rosneft. Analysts say he holds these investments for powerful members of the Kazakh elite.

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Armenia expands nuclear power plant lifetime

SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Overriding concerns from the EU, Armenia said it would extend the lifespan of its Metsamor nuclear power plant to 2026. The lifespan of the Soviet-era Metsamor, built 30km west of Yerevan in an area prone to earthquakes, had already been extended last year to 2020 from 2016. Metsamor provides 40% of Armenia’s power.

(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)