On September 8  Senior Researcher Elena Gai presented on current nuclear disarmament verification initiatives at the IX International Conference ‘Semipalatinsk Test Site: Legacy and Prospects for Scientific-Technical Potential’, which featured interventions from representatives of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Nuclear Centre and other scientific institutes as well as diplomatic personalities such as the US, Russian and Japanese Ambassadors to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The decision to close the test site demonstrated an adamant commitment by the Republic of Kazakhstan to nuclear security and the non-proliferation regime, the first of a series of crucial measures to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons, a commitment undertaken by all States part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Other presentations delivered during the high-level conference included ‘Kazakh monitoring stations and National data center in support of CTBT’, ‘Evidence of nuclear non-proliferation obligations breaching by a state-importer of fast reactor with closed NFC’ and ‘Decommissioning of BN-350 fast reactor – positive experience of the Republic of Kazakhstan in area of nuclear non-proliferation’.

The programme of the Conference can be found here: https://www.nnc.kz/en/conferences/ix-mejdunarodnaya-konferenciya-semipalatinskiy-ispytatelnyy-poligon-nasledie-i-perspektivy-razvitiya-nauchno-tehnicheskogo-potenciala