Kazakhstan has restarted its IVG.1M research reactor at the energy ministry’s National Nuclear Centre (NNC) near Kurchatov in the northeast of the country after it was adapted to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel.
Like many other research reactors, IVG.1M originally used highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is considered a proliferation risk.
NNC said in a statement that in 2010 it began a project to convert the IVG.1M – which first operated in 1972 – to LEU. The goal was to reduce the enrichment level of the fuel to below 20% in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency requirements, while “maintaining and improving” its characteristics.
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