Russia has signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to build the first nuclear power plant in Central Asia’s largest country.
Kazakhstan, the world’s leading uranium producer, has debated the use of nuclear power for more than two decades, despite the heavy legacy of Soviet-era nuclear testing on its territory.
“The agreement signed today on the construction of the Balkhash nuclear power plant is of great importance,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana.
“I would like to thank you for your support in the planning of this large-scale project,” Tokayev told Putin.
The two sides also signed an agreement for a Russian export credit to finance the plant’s construction.
Kazakhstan voted in favour of building a nuclear power plant in a 2024 referendum and selected the village of Ulken, on the shores of Lake Balkhash in the country’s south-east, as the site.
Kazakhstan’s nuclear energy agency said last month that Russia would lend the country around 85% of the plant’s estimated $15 billion cost. The facility is expected to have two reactors.
Kazakhstan, which has a population of 20.5 million, plans to reach 2.4 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.
Source: CNA
