Kazakhstan, a world player in nuclear industry

Kazakhstan is a world player in nuclear industry because of its resources in uranium, it owns 13% of the world reserves and it ranks second behind Australia. In less than 10 years, its uranium production has increased tenfold to reach a production of 24500 tons in 2016 which was 39% of the world production. In the past, Kazakhstan was a producer of nuclear energy with the BN-350 sodium-cooled fast reactor that operated between 1973 and 1993 to produce electricity for a water desalination plant. Kazakhstan authorities are studying the possibility of building 2 Russian reactors at Kurchatov in the north-eastern region of the country. In 2014 an agreement was signed with the Chinese CGN company to build in Kazakhstan a plant for the fabrication of fuel assemblies, this plant will allow Kazakhstan to better valorize its uranium resources. (A.C.)