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Updated November 2009
Nuclear Overview
Uzbekistan has never deployed or produced nuclear weapons, nor has it indicated any intent to do so.[1] Uzbekistan has one operational nuclear research reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP) in Ulugbek, outside of Tashkent. However, the reactor was converted from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium fuel in March 2008 under the aegis of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. Nuclear material from the nonoperational Photon Radioelectrical Technical Plant in Tashkent is stored at INP.[2] The INP reactor ran on 90% HEU fuel until 1998, when it was converted to use 36% HEU fuel.
During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan provided the lion's share of uranium to the Soviet military-industrial complex.[3] The state-owned Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combine (NMMC) in the city of Navoi oversees three in-situ leaching operations in Uzbekistan that produce U3O8. The uranium is milled at the No. 1 Hydrometallurgical Plant in Navoi. All uranium production facilities in Uzbekistan are under IAEA safeguards.[4]
Since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has passed laws and participated in international efforts that support the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The 1992 law On Defense commits Uzbekistan to adhere to the following three principles: non-deployment, non-production, and non-acquisition of nuclear weapons.[5] A 1995 Uzbekistani draft military doctrine reiterates Uzbekistan's commitment to nuclear nonproliferation; a global ban on nuclear testing; the elimination of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; and reductions in conventional armed forces. It also calls for the creation of a nuclear-free zone in Central Asia and seeks to strengthen the UN's role in ensuring regional security.[6] Uzbekistan signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1992 and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996. 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 September 8, 2006. Tashkent ratified the treaty in April 2007. Upon ratification of a relevant law by Uzbek president Islam Karimov, Tashkent joined the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism in April 2008. Uzbekistan also takes part in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
Sources:
[1] Sergey Kurbanov, "Only A Peaceful Atom," Narodnoye slovo, 11 September 1997, p. 1; in "Head of Uzbeki Atomic Observation Inspectorate Interviewed," FBIS Document FBIS-TAC-97-255.
[2] NISNP Interview with Uzbekistani nuclear physicist, June 2001, UZB010600.
[3] Takhir Dzhalilov, "Tashkent's Strategic Resource," Nezavisimaya gazeta, 5 June 1996, p. 3; in FBIS-SOV-96-110.
[4] Burkhard Conrad, "Regional (non-) Proliferation: The Case of Central Asia," Report distributed at the Nonproliferation Treaty Review conference, April-May 2000.
[5] Presidential Bulletin, 7 August 1992; Central Eurasia, 12 August 1992, p. 19, FBIS Document JPRS-TND-92-028.
[6] OMRI Daily Digest, Vol.1, No. 112, 9 June 1995.
This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.
