Consultancy Meeting on the Sidelines of the IAEA

On 28–29 July 2026, a Consultancy Meeting was held on the sidelines of the IAEA in Vienna. The meeting was attended by representatives of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC RK), the Atomic Supervision and Control Committee of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Atomic Energy (ARKAE), the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories, as well as specialists from the IAEA Departments of Safeguards and Research Reactor Section.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the following topics:

• construction of the IGR HEU fuel down-blending facility;
• design of the repackaging facility for the IGR HEU fuel;
• fabrication and supply of specialized equipment (L-positioner and hot cell) required for HEU fuel repackaging;
• nuclear material accounting and control, procedures for transferring nuclear material to radioactive waste, and safeguards reporting documentation.

The participants were also presented with the results of preliminary studies on HEU fuel down-blending and immobilization methods for the IVG.1M reactor (melting and oxidation), carried out by specialists of NNC RK. Experts from the IAEA and research laboratories in Sweden and South Africa highly appreciated the conducted studies, confirmed the feasibility of applying these methods to the proposed task, and provided several recommendations that will help optimize the design of the future down-blending facility.

Plans for the next stages of the projects were outlined, and key project milestones were identified.