This is an archived page. Please visit the new Kyrgyzstan country profile at http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Kyrgyzstan/index.html .

Kyrgyzstan: Overview

 

Map of Kyrgyzstani facilities		Political Map of Kyrgyzstan

From the 1950s to the 1990s, the Kara-Balta Ore Mining Combine in northern Kyrgyzstan processed uranium concentrate from deposits in both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for use in the Soviet Union's military and civilian nuclear industries.  As of 2001, Kara-Balta continues to process Kazakhstani uranium concentrate into U₃O₈ in an arrangement with the Nuclear Power and Industrial Complex of Kazakhstan (Kazatomprom).  Uranium extraction in Kyrgyzstan itself has ceased.  Kara-Balta exports U₃O₈ to Kazatomprom's customers, including Russia.[2]

Radioactive waste in uranium tailings ponds in Kyrgyzstan poses a significant health threat.  The European Union, Russia, and the United States have provided foreign assistance to help Kyrgyzstan come up with solutions to its uranium waste problem.

Kyrgyzstan is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Please see the links below for additional information.

International Organization Membership Tables
Map of Central Asia
The Export Control System in Kyrgyzstan
Uranium Mining and Milling in Kyrgyzstan
Radioactive Waste in Kyrgyzstan
General Developments, Kyrgyzstan, 1993-1996
Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone

Sources:
[1] Cassady B. Craft, Suzette R. Grillot, Liam Anderson, "The Dangerous Ground:  Nonproliferation Export-Control Development in the Southern Tier of the Former Soviet Union," Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 47, No. 6, November/December 2000, pp. 39-51.
[2] Dmitriy Glumskov, "Kyrgyzskiy gornorudnyy kombinat budet uchastvovat v razrabotke uranovogo mestorozhdeniya "Zarechnoye" v Zhambylskoy oblasti," Panorama online edition, http://www.panorama.kz, No. 31, August 2000.{Entered 5/28/2001 KB}