Kazakhstan’s contribution to nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy

Overview

• The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was established on the territory of Kazakhstan by the Soviet Union in November, 1946. It was the first and largest nuclear test site of the Soviet Union.
• On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet nuclear test was carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site.
• For over four decades, Soviet authorities conducted 468 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk site. Their total power between 1949 and 1963 was 2,500 times higher than the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
• More than 1.3 million people in Kazakhstan were exposed to radioactive fallout during these atmospheric and underground tests, and vast tracts of land and surrounding areas have been contaminated in Semipalatinsk.
• In 1989, the Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear movement aimed at the termination of nuclear tests in Kazakhstan and all over the world was created.
• By the decree of the First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on August 29, 1991, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was closed. In its place, the National Nuclear Centre of Kazakhstan was established in 1992 to assist in eliminating the infrastructure for the storage and use of nuclear weapons, as well as to provide scientific and technical support for the policy of the Government of Kazakhstan in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy and the development of the atomic energy industry. In 1992, Kazakhstan ratified the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1). In September 1996, all of Kazakhstan’s 104 ICBMs were safely removed to Russia and destroyed, three years ahead of the schedule laid out in the Treaty. Thus, Kazakhstan deliberately renounced and decommissioned its nuclear arsenal (1,410 nuclear warheads - the fourth largest arsenal in the world at the time).
• Kazakhstan became a party to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on December 13, 1993, and shortly thereafter a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• Kazakhstan was among the first to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, and subsequently ratified it in 2001.
• From 1996 to 2000, 181 adits and 13 wells were completely closed at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.
• Since 2004, projects have been implemented with the participation of Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States to eliminate the impact of past nuclear testing activities and strengthen the physical barriers of facilities on the territory of the former Semipalatinsk test site.
• A comprehensive environmental survey of the Semipalatinsk site began in 2008 and will be completed in 2021.
• In April 2010, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the Semipalatinsk test site where he appealed to the world community to stop nuclear tests.

Kazakhstan’s recent contributions to nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy

• Kazakhstan has been a staunch promoter of non-proliferation since its independence.
• Kazakhstan, together with its neighbours, created a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in Central Asia. The treaty was signed on 8 September 2006. It was subsequently ratified by all five Central Asian states and entered into force on 21 March, 2009. Kazakhstan has urged progress on launching similar nuclear weapon free zones, including in the Middle East.
• In 2009, the UN General Assembly unanimously accepted a resolution put forward by Kazakhstan proclaiming August 29 – when a decree on the closure of the Semipalatinsk Test Site was signed, as the ‘International Day against Nuclear Tests’.
• In 2012, Kazakhstan launched The ATOM (Abolish Testing. Our Mission) Project, an international education and advocacy campaign seeking to mobilise global public opinion against nuclear weapon testing and nuclear weapons.
• On August 27, 2015, Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed an Agreement to establish a low-enriched uranium (LEU) Bank in Kazakhstan to provide a guaranteed supply of the fuel for the civil atomic energy industry. On August 29, 2017, the opening of the LEU Bank took place at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant with the participation of Nursultan Nazarbayev and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.
• In 2015-2017, Kazakhstan and Japan carried out co-chairmanship in the Article XIV Conference of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, seeking to bring this important international instrument closer to entry into force.
• In December 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration for the Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World put forward by Kazakhstan.
• Kazakhstan played a significant contribution in the success of the Iranian nuclear deal by hosting two rounds of negotiations between Iran and P5+1 in 2013.
• Following the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Kazakhstan and the United States of America signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in the field of non-proliferation and nuclear security, where they confirmed a shared commitment to implementing practical measures to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime and enhance nuclear security.
• In August 2016, as part of the celebration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests and the 25th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan organised an international conference titled Building a Nuclear Weapon Free World.
• In October 2016, the establishment of a new prize – the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear Weapon Free World and Global Security – was announced. The first prize was awarded in 2017 to King Abdullah II of Jordan. In 2019, the laureates were the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, Lassina Zerbo and IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano (posthumously). The next award ceremony will be held in August 2021.
• In 2019, Kazakhstan ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first multilateral, legally binding agreement to ban their development, testing, stockpiling and use.
• In 2020, the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the status of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Champion for a nuclear-test-free world.
• Kazakhstan is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Kazakhstan is the only post-Soviet state to have signed the TPNW and the only former Soviet nation to ratify the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS).

Kazakhstan’s vision for a world free from nuclear weapons

• Kazakhstan’s position is that nuclear disarmament and the abolition of nuclear testing are essential preconditions for global security.
• At the UN General Assembly in 2015, the First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said during his statement that a world without nuclear weapons should be the main goal of humanity in the twenty-first century.
• At the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed for the centenary of the United Nations to develop a 2045 Global Strategic Initiative Plan. He called on UN member states to rid the world of nuclear weapons by the centenary of the United Nations in 2045.
• The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has continued Kazakhstan’s anti-nuclear initiatives. He also called on the global community to support the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Building a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, stressing that it is a roadmap to a safer future.