Japan And Kazakhstan To Start Nuclear Energy Talks

CIVIL NUCLEAR

Aktau - Kazakhstan's only nuclear power plant.

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Apr 30, 2007
Japan and Kazakhstan have agreed to launch talks on cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy with the Central Asian nation increasing its uranium shipments to Tokyo, press reports said Monday. The agreement was mentioned in a joint statement issued in Astana by Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov and Akira Amari, the Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry, the Jiji and Kyodo news agencies said.

If the talks proceed smoothly, Kazakh's share in Japan's uranium imports is expected to reach 30-40 percent from the current one percent in about 10 years, the reports said.

Japan also agreed to provide Kazakhstan with technological assistance for processing uranium fuel and building light-water reactors in exchange for uranium supplies.

Kazakhstan has the world's second-largest uranium reserves after Australia, according to Japanese government data. The price of uranium jumped 12 times from 2000 to 2007.

With the deals, Kazakhstan is expected to become one of the biggest uranium suppliers to Japan in the future, rivaling Australia and Canada whose current shares are 33 percent and 27 percent.

The trade minister was visiting Kazakhstan with top executives from 29 Japanese companies.

They signed 24 business deals with Kazakh enterprises to help ensure stable uranium supply to Japan over a long term and facilitate civil nuclear technological transfer from Japan to Kazakhstan.

Among the 24 deals, Marubeni Corp. acquired a stake in a uranium mine in a deal with Kazakh state-run atomic company Kazatomprom. Toshiba Corp. agreed with Kazatomprom to help build nuclear power plants, Kyodo said.

In August last year, then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi toured Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where he offered aid and discussed cooperation in the energy sector.

In Kazakhstan, Koizumi met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who said that the emerging market of Kazakhstan and energy-hungry, industrialised Japan "have complementary economies."

Koizumi was the first Japanese prime minister to visit Central Asia.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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CIVIL NUCLEAR

Indian Foreign Secretary In US For Nuclear Talks

Washington (AFP) Apr 30, 2007
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon held talks here Monday on wide-ranging issues, ahead of key discussions aimed at kickstarting a landmark nuclear cooperation deal with the US. Menon was meeting Monday with US under secretary of state for global affairs and democracy Paula Dobriansky to discuss issues of common concern such as the environment and HIV, Indian embassy officials said.

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