Almaty: Kazakhstan will establish a state organ responsible for radioactive waste management, local media reported Tuesday, citing Gumar Sergazin, deputy chairman of the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Agency.

Under a draft law, the new organ will oversee all issues related to the handling of radioactive waste, including transportation, processing and decontamination, said Sergazin.

It will also be in charge of the design and construction of a radioactive waste disposal site as well as radiation safety at the site, which is likely to be set at the Semipalatinsk test site, where half of about-8,300-square-km land is classified as contaminated, he said.

Currently, Kazakhstan has accumulated approximately 293 million cubic meters of radioactive waste, of which nearly 290 million are low-level radioactive.

Between 1949 and 1989, the Semipalatinsk test site in eastern Kazakhstan was one of the primary locations for the Soviet Union's above-ground and underground nuclear tests.

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