Reply #22: Kazakhstan offered to be a depository... interesting:

[Aloha Spirit]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090405-702833.html

Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union tested its nuclear weapons and where Russia still launches its satellites, would represent the clearest sign yet that the Obama administration is ready to bend Moscow's way to win a partner in Mr. Obama's arms control agenda. After the Soviet Union broke up, Kazakhstan was left with a nuclear arsenal of its own, which it voluntarily gave up.

An EU diplomat in Prague familiar with the nuclear security issues said Kazakhstan made a lot of sense as a potential site for a nuclear fuel bank.

"This is one of the very few countries that had nuclear weapons and destroyed them. So Kazakhstan is a very interesting offer," the diplomat said, noting that the EU has given the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna 25 million euros to figure out how to structure such a fuel bank.

But it could also raise some eyebrows. The authoritarian government might not allow the kind of transparency such a venture might need.

"There hasn't been a final decision by President Obama," the senior administration official said, "but he is considering Kazakhstan to be the host."