Kazakhstan, Astana, Nov. 19 / Trend A. Maratov /
The BN-350 reactor in the western region of Kazakhstan has been decommissioned.
The reactor is no longer a threat, U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Richard Hoagland told media.
"Kazakhstan, pursued by the legacy of a nuclear testing site, has become a country with a fully decommissioned BN-350 posing no threat, which has been stored in an equipped place, in specially designed canisters, in complete safety as a result of this project," he said.
There were several scenarios of how events would develop in the face of uncertainty after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said suddenly the three countries inherited nuclear arsenals.
The ambassador stressed that the prospect of closing the reactor, safely packaging the radioactive fuel and storing it in a safe place seemed like an almost unattainable project in the 1990s, even after Kazakhstan refused to build nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Nevertheless, Kazakhstan has demonstrated its ability to cope with this problem, he said.
Nuclear scientists, engineers and state agencies collaborated with their colleagues from the United States and UK to implement the project. According to the ambassador, they cooperated in accordance with IAEA instructions to develop and execute a plan.
"Today is a day we can all be proud of," he said. "Hundreds of people gave up something. They gave up time for their families to live in a safer world. Sometimes people literally risked their jobs, not knowing what would happen to them when the project ends, but knowing that they were doing the right thing."
