On January 31, 2023, the 6th meeting of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan at KazNANS was held online, which was attended by members of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan and the Youth Branch of the Committee, as well as invitees. The Secretariat of the Committee informed about the presence of a quorum in accordance with clause 4.2 of the Regulations on the PCK and the voting approved the "Agenda" of the 6th Meeting of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan at KazNANS.
At the opening of the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee - Professor Shkolnik V.S. once again congratulated a number of members of the Committee who celebrated Anniversaries in 2022, professors: Nauryzbaev M.K. on his 80th birthday, Mambetkaziev E.A. on his 85th birthday, Burkitbaev M.M. on his 70th birthday and Kadyrzhanov K.K. with the title of Laureate of the award "Altyn-Adam - Person of the Year" in the nomination "Scientist of the Year".
In his opening speech, Professor Shkolnik V.S., noted that the Committee had practically completed all the activities in all 4 Sections of the Committee's Action Plan for 2022, approved by everyone at the 5th meeting of the PCK on January 27, 2022, and expressed their general impressions of the current situation in the world, emphasizing that the nuclear danger is not an abstract concern, but an extremely serious problem affecting the entire international community and we should all remember this every day.
He drew attention to the consolidated opinions of the Pugwash movement of scientists, developed by them at meetings and published by the Pugwash Secretariat on the following issues:
- Global safety, including concerns about the situation of the war in Ukraine and that in the event of rising tensions within Europe, the risk of the use of nuclear weapons cannot be ruled out. All Pugwash participants are responsible to urgently find working solutions to this crisis that would save the world;
- The consequences of the war in Ukraine are also obvious: heavy fighting is poisoning the environment and destroying grain crops that provide food for many parts of the world;
- Other aspects of the world economy have been hit hard by the war in Ukraine: gas and oil supplies to European countries are under severe restrictions, inflation has crept in to the most countries, and there are many other negative consequences;
- The risks, unfortunately, are not limited to the direct consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) is practically doomed, and this is pushing Iran to further develop its nuclear program;
- What Israel is doing is also of great concern;
- In South Korea and Japan, supporters of the national nuclear potential have become louder, more active;
- The hostilities in Northeast Asia between Korea, the US and Japan are also of concern. The DPRK has reason to believe that the acquisition of nuclear weapons has increased its security;
- The situation with China, the US and Taiwan is also alarming. The actions and rhetoric of the parties involved are far from encouraging;
- The war in Ukraine overshadows other nuclear dangers, and this is also a serious risk of catastrophe. The entire security architecture based on the UN Charter, multilateral and bilateral treaties and other arrangements is under threat;
- Peace and security are common goods: no country can feel secure unless everyone feels the same.
He stressed that, in his opinion, the Pugwash site is one of the few in the world where scientists from all countries meet, can communicate, discuss the most important security issues. It is clear that, as a rule, the most educated, literate, elite of each country participate in the Pugwash movement. The joint scientific and technical programs that we will talk about here, I think, are a very important part of our movement, the struggle for peace. This is an opportunity not only to obtain scientific results of joint collaborations, but also to increase trust between the participants in these scientific and technical programs, and therefore between scientists. This means that the risks of global conflicts are reduced, this is the answer why our Pugwash Committee encourages and helps scientists to cooperate.
He drew attention to the fact that Kazakhstan is a unique country where there is experience in working to reduce the global threat with countries like the East, the USA, the EU and the Russian Federation. I think that with this in mind, the current President of Kazakhstan, Tokayev Kassym-Zhomart Kemelevich, being the Chairman of the Senate, initiated the creation of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan under KazNANS, and we are now working together. The situation is not the best, which means that we have to work even better and harder.
Secretary of the Committee, Professor Akhmetov T.Z. presented information “On the implementation of the PCK Action Plan for 2022” and the draft “PCK Action Plan for 2023”.
During the discussions on the agenda items, the following speakers took part:
- Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Ibraev B.M., presented the project: "Utilization of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) at the Mangistau nuclear power plant", where today there are about 3000 cubic meters of high-level LRW, the state of coverage is of great concern due to the leakage of containers. The project can be verified by domestic individual, specific and experimental species selection experiments, and pre-treatment of 10 cubic meters of LRW at MNPP has already been verified with very good results. He asked for the assistance of the Committee in supporting funding through the NWF “Samruk-Kazyna” for this pilot project, which would be a real contribution to the development of domestic developments;
- Candidate of biological sciences Masalimov Zh.K. took the initiative to develop educational courses and / or programs on biosafety, which would be one of the important links in increasing the effectiveness of biosecurity measures in modern conditions and, noting that the rapid development of biotechnology and related sciences in the long term, education in this area will acquire increasing demand;
- PhD Tarlykov P.V. supported the initiative of Masalimov Zh.K., noting that over the past two decades, the training of specialists in the field of biosafety has practically ceased. Very few PhD dissertations were defended in order to resume training in the field of biosafety at the level of national and regional universities, these are microbiology, virology. He informed that in 2023 they would hold an event in the field of biosafety, this is more connected with tuberculosis and that the microbacterium of tuberculosis is the No. 1 killer, the No. 1 infectious agent in the world in terms of mortality;
- Professor Zhaparov B.A. taking into account the specifics of the activities of the Pugwash Committee, KazRENA offered to organize and conduct specialized courses on cybersecurity training at nuclear, biological and other critical high-risk facilities, designed for both beginners and experienced cybersecurity professionals, as well as for leaderships and managers who are responsible for their organization's cybersecurity decisions;
- Candidate of Chemical Sciences Savelyev S.R. shared his vision of the global situation in the field of nuclear arms control, and also made a proposal on the advisability of conducting a study on the elimination of biological weapons and their infrastructure in Kazakhstan;
- Chairman of the Youth branch, head of the laboratory of the branch IAE RSE NNC RK Miniyazov A.Zh. informed that the activities of the youth branch of the Committee for 2022 were completed: - Chairman of the Youth department, head of the laboratory of the branch of the IAE RSE NNC RK Miniyazov A.Zh. informed that the activities of the youth branch of the Committee for 2022 were completed: interaction has been established with young people from foreign countries, in particular, with the participation of the Youth branch of the Pugwash groups of Great Britain and the Russian Federation, a number of other joint events have been organized and held;
- Professor Zeinullin A.A. informed about the meeting with the leadership of the NWF "Samruk-Kazyna" Satkaliyev A.M., who indicated his readiness to support practical implementation - pilot projects of scientists, for example: the production of hydrogen from water, from hydrocarbons, using alternative energy, using nuclear energy, obtaining, storage and transportation, the creation of new materials that scientists can develop in order to use this hydrogen energy, etc. The NWF “Samruk-Kazyna” has a center for scientific and technical initiatives, where you can submit your projects. And it will, in principle, support these pilot projects. He informed that, on behalf of the President of the KazNANS, plans to visit the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan to support projects on scientific and technical progress from KazNANS scientists, hoping for his support. He is waiting for projects from scientists in order to form a scientific program on hydrogen energy. He proposed to approve the activities of the PCK for 2022 and the project “PCK Action Plan for 2023” and we considered and supported this at the Academy.
Professor Shkolnik V.S. summed up the meeting, noting that the 6th meeting of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan under KazNANS was held in an online format with the active participation of the Committee members in discussing the activities of the PCK for 2022 and the project “PCK Action Plan for 2023”.
All proposals for the draft PCK Action Plan for 2023 were adopted unanimously.
The summary of the draft “PCK Action Plan for 2023”, prepared taking into account the proposals of the PCK members received on the eve of the 6th meeting of the Committee, will be finalized taking into account the new proposals mentioned during the meeting.