U.S., Kazakhstan Agree to Areas of Cooperation in Civil Nuclear Energy

At their meeting in Astana on July 13, Ed McGinnis, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Nuclear Energy Policy and Cooperation of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Albert Rau, First Vice Minister of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, signed the Terms of Reference for the Sub-Working Group on Nuclear Energy under the U.S.-Kazakhstan Energy Partnership.

The Joint Action Plan agreed to in October 2009 by the Energy Partnership’s co-chairmen, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and Minister of Oil and Gas (then Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources) Sauat Mynbayev, focuses U.S.-Kazakhstani cooperation under the Energy Partnership in four areas: nuclear security and nuclear energy; oil and gas; renewable energy and energy efficiency; and electric power. In the area of nuclear energy, the United States and Kazakhstan intend to share expertise between national laboratories and scientific organizations that will facilitate the safe and secure development of Kazakhstan’s commercial nuclear industry.

The United States and Kazakhstan have long-standing cooperation in the energy sector. U.S. President Obama and Secretary of Energy Chu met with Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 11, 2010, and issued a joint statement that pledged to intensify bilateral cooperation to promote nuclear safety and non-proliferation, regional stability in Central Asia, economic prosperity, and universal values.

Joint Statement on Trilateral Cooperation on Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors R&D

Nuclear energy has an important role to play in our energy future. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is collaborating with other countries to advance nuclear energy to help meet energy demand and curb carbon pollution. On October 4, 2010, in South Africa, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives of the French Republic to promote cooperation on sodium-cooled fast reactors. Click here for a copy of a joint statement on the MOU from DOE and the Japanese and French nuclear energy authorities.