Officials of the Nuclear Energy Authority of Mongolia have denied reports in foreign media that the U.S. administration has held informal talks with Mongolia about the possibility that it might host an international repository for its region”s spent nuclear fuel. They categorically denied that any agreement has been concluded with any foreign government, company or individual on the matter.

Mongolia is a signatory to the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty and is committed to using nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes. Besides, it has a law prohibiting import or transit through Mongolia to a third country of any form of harmful waste. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is preparing to ask US officials about the reports.

These quoted Richard Stratford, who directs the U.S. State Department”s Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Office, as saying U.S. Energy Department officials and their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar are in the early stages of discussion on setting up a nuclear fuel depot in Mongolia for the region. Stratford was speaking at the biennial Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference.
    
Energy Department officials traveled to Mongolia last fall for meetings on the matter, according to a senior associate with the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  “It was a fruitful discussion,” he said. “They went into some details [but] it was very exploratory.”