On 14 February 1994 the Republic of Kazakhstan became the 121st member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On 26 July 1994 an Agreement was signed in Almaty between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the IAEA on the application of safeguards in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
In accordance with the Agreement on the Application of Safeguards, all nuclear activities in Kazakhstan are placed under IAEA safeguards. The IAEA regularly conducts inspections in Kazakhstan's nuclear facilities, the purpose of which is to verify and confirm the amount of nuclear materials and nuclear activities officially declared by the country.
Kazakhstan is a party to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Joint Convention on the Safe Management of Spent Fuel and on the Safe Management of Radioactive Waste, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, the Convention on Assistance in the Event of a Nuclear Accident or Radiation Emergency, the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage.
On 6 February 2004 an Additional Protocol to the Agreement between Kazakhstan and the IAEA on the Application of Safeguards was signed in Vienna, which was ratified on 19 February 2007 and entered into force on 9 May 2007.
An important area of cooperation with the IAEA is the functioning of the IAEA Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in Kazakhstan. On 27 August 2015 Astana hosted the signing ceremony of documents on the establishment of the IAEA LEU Bank in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was attended by the late Director General of the IAEA Yukio Amano. On 29 August 2017 the opening ceremony of the IAEA LEU Bank building in Kazakhstan took place.
Within the framework of the Technical cooperation program with the IAEA, Kazakhstan is implementing 63 projects (11 national, 46 regional and 6 interregional) on the introduction of modern nuclear technologies in medicine (cancer control), agriculture (increasing yields, water purification, food security), the transfer of land from the territory of the former Semipalatinsk landfill into economic circulation, etc.
On an ongoing basis, visits are exchanged between the Director General of the IAEA and the leadership of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Energy and JSC NAC Kazatomprom.
In October 2020, in Nur-Sultan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erzhan Ashikbayev met with Deputy Director General of the IAEA Massimo Aparo and discussed a range of issues of cooperation on inspections and safeguards.
In September 2022, Vice Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhandos Nurmaganbetov held a meeting with the Director General of the IAEA Raffael Grossi during participation in the 66th session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna. The parties discussed the upcoming IAEA Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR-follow up) Mission in the first quarter of 2023.
Sessions of the IAEA General Conference are held annually in September, which are attended by more than 2,500 representatives from all member States of the Agency, international and non-governmental organizations. The delegation of Kazakhstan headed by the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan regularly participates in the General Conference. The Kazakh delegation also includes representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC NAC "Kazatomprom", the National Nuclear Center and other organizations.
Within the framework of the General Conference, the head of the Kazakhstan delegation speaks about the contribution of our country to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime, cooperation between Kazakhstan and the IAEA in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. At the site of the IAEA General Conference, the Kazakhstan delegation submits draft resolutions and holds side events on various issues important for Kazakhstan.