On 12 May 2020 ISTC Executive Director David Cleave received at the ISTC Main Office in Nur Sultan  Mr. Bauyrzhan Ibrayev, Director General, Atomic Energy, NAC Kazatomprom, with whom he discussed the assessment by the ISTC Scientific Advisory Council of a new technology, for the processing and disposal of radioactive waste.

ISTC Executive Director welcomed the decision of the Kazakh Ministry of Energy to organize; as a matter of priority, the treatment of liquid radioactive tailings from the decommissioned reactor in Aktau to prevent spill over that may damage the environment. For that purpose, an innovative technology underwent industrial testing by NAC Kazatomprom. It yielded encouraging results, sharply reducing the radioactive waste management costs and time needed for the cleaning activities. The technology allowed to compress liquid waste into a hard compost, reducing the volume of 1 000 cubic meters to 20 cubic meters.

The IAEA acknowledged the new technology as potential element of recommended practices for decommissioning of reactors on fast neutrons. The ISTC Scientific Advisory Council will study the innovative approach and announce its assessment of the ground breaking technological achievement.

ISTC, of which Kazakhstan is the host State Party, encourages exchanges of experience among the research and entrepreneurial communities of its member states.

ISTC Deputy Executive Director Aidyn Turebayev, and Kamen Velichkov, SPM and DA, also participated in the meeting with NAC Kazatomprom.