Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has called on the country’s energy minister to accelerate the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant (NPP).
At a meeting on December 23, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev briefed President Tokayev on the main performance indicators and plans for the development of Kazakhstan’s fuel and energy sector. He also provided updates on the progress of the heating season, the operation of major heat and energy supply facilities, and the implementation of key oil, gas, and energy projects, according to the Kazakh president’s official website.
President Tokayev emphasized the importance of expediting the implementation of the NPP project and ordered a close monitoring of issues related to the heating season and the modernization of the energy infrastructure.
Kazakhstan aims to build its first commercial nuclear power station to address chronic energy shortages. On October 6, the Kazakh people voted in favor of constructing the country’s first NPP in a nationwide referendum. Following the public vote, President Tokayev stated that he prefers Kazakhstan to join an international consortium comprising global companies with advanced technologies.
Several countries, including China, France, Russia, and South Korea, have already expressed interest in participating in the construction of the nuclear plant.
On December 13, a Kazakh delegation, led by the energy minister, visited China and discussed cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, oil and gas, electricity generation, and renewable energy with potential suppliers of equipment for Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant.
During another meeting, the Kazakh minister held talks with Shen Yanfeng, the director-general of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), a potential supplier of nuclear technology included in the shortlist. The delegation also visited the Zhangzhou nuclear plant, which is being constructed with the HPR-1000 reactor, the production facilities of the Shanghai Electric nuclear power equipment corporation, and a uranium conversion and enrichment plant in central China.
From December 4 to 6, the Kazakh delegation, led by Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev, held talks in France with government officials and leading nuclear companies to discuss their participation in the NPP project. The French side expressed readiness to support Kazakhstan in implementing the project.
The delegation met with the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad, the Minister Delegate for Energy, the head of the Directorate-General for Energy and Climate, and officials from EDF, the country’s largest energy-generating company and operator of nuclear power plants, whose name is on the shortlist of suppliers of nuclear technologies to Kazakhstan.
Additionally, the delegation met with representatives from Framatome, the developer and manufacturer of nuclear power plant equipment, and Arabelle Solutions, the supplier of turbine equipment for nuclear plants. They also visited the crisis center of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, as well as a plant producing equipment for nuclear power plants.
The Kazakh government is inclined to entrust the project to an international consortium. However, Moscow has been pressuring Astana for years to award the nuclear power contract to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom.
On November 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a news conference in Astana that Rosatom is the world’s largest company in terms of the number of nuclear power plants under construction abroad, and that it is ready to build a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. However, the Kazakh side would have the final say.
“If our partners in Kazakhstan need or wish to involve specialists from third countries for joint work, that is also possible. Rosatom has this kind of experience in cooperating with foreign partners,” the Russian president added.
There is considerable public resistance to Russia’s participation in the project in Kazakhstan. Opponents of the nuclear power project have cited the legacy of Soviet nuclear testing on Kazakh territory and expressed concerns that the government is pursuing nuclear power due to Russian influence.
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