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.[2] As of 2005, Kara-Balta had ceased processing Kazakhstani uranium concentrate into U₃O₈. Bishkek has since tried unsuccessfully to sell the plant to private investors. Uranium extraction in Kyrgyzstan itself has ceased.

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. This year Russia has began allocating funds to Kyrgyzstan for the rehabilitation of so-called tailing dumps of uranium wastes, according to head of Russia's Rosatom, Sergey Kiriyenko on October 12, 2007.

Kyrgyzstan has had a IAEA safeguards agreement in place since 18 March 1998. For additional information on Bishkek's participation in international agreements, see the country page in NTI's Inventory.

The foreign ministers of the five Central Asian States--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan--signed a treaty establishing a Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone (CANWFZ) on 8 September 2006.

	Updated July 2008