The International Science and Technology Center

The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) is an intergovernmental organization that establishes business contacts among scientists from Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia and their colleagues from research centers in EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, the United States and other countries. The ISTC promotes international scientific projects and helps the global scientific and business community find and use the institutions of member-countries with unique scientific know-how for joint developments and interdisciplinary research. Much of the ISTC’s resources aims at applying science and technology to the problematic legacy of the past, especially at maintaining the existing scientific capacity of institutions and researchers during severe economic crises. In the last decade, Kazakhstan has significantly advanced its scientific capacity and has taken one of the leading roles in the development of a large number of ISTC initiative projects. That is cooperation in the field of seismology, nuclear forensics, reduction of the risk level of radioactive sources, strengthening the capacity to ensure nuclear non-proliferation, protection and safety, and many others. This year, the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the ISTC has successfully continued. During the 70th meeting of the ISTC Governing Council, which took place on July 15, 2020, a decision was made to allocate funds for the implementation of 2 project proposals prepared by RSE NNC RK: 1. The project ‘Research into climatic changes and soil cover contamination in forest ecosystems of Kazakhstan’ (KZ-2620, implementation period is 24 months) deals with the study of climate change problems. The work will cover research outputs on the level of climatic changes in the environment of Kazakhstan and the degree of influence of anthropogenic human activities on these changes by studying the behavior of radiocarbon in the environment. Such research is necessary to predict climate changes in Kazakhstan in order to develop a strategy for a timely response as well as for man and environment to adapt to such changes. 2. The project ‘Mobility and bioavailability of artificial radionuclides’ (KZ-2620, implementation period is 36 months) aims at studying the distribution of speciation of radioactive elements in venues of nuclear explosions, determining their biological availability and mobility in geosystems. Findings will be applied to predictive estimates of the development of the radiological situation in areas affected by radiation accidents at NPP and radiological emergencies at different radiation hazardous facilities in order to reduce radiation risk to man and the environment.