Kazakhstan will need to construct new power transmission infrastructure to support electricity distribution from its first nuclear power plant (NPP), a 2.4-gigawatt (GW) facility planned for the village of Ulken in the Zhambyl district of the Almaty region. The plant is slated to come online by 2035, according to Nabi Aitzhanov, CEO of Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC).
«In terms of activities related to the construction of the NPP, we have a project designed for the village of Ulken in the Almaty region,» Aitzhanov said during a meeting of Samruk-Kazyna’s public council. «Under this project, we’ve already begun to strengthen the electric grid in the southern zone. And this North-South project, which involves the construction of a direct current line, will improve the capacity for transmitting power from the future nuclear plant.»
Along with the North-South line, KEGOC plans to build several additional transmission lines to distribute electricity from the plant.
«There is another potential line, from Ulken to Turkestan,» Aitzhanov said. «Our initial assessment indicates that the Ulken-Turkestan line will also be necessary. It’s currently under review based on operating conditions. We’re now working with the Ministry of Energy and KEGOC’s National Dispatch Center to calculate the exact technical parameters.»
Aitzhanov confirmed that one of the new lines will be a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line. The Ministry of Energy told Kursiv.media that the nuclear plant may be financed through foreign export loans or funding from international financial institutions.
The decision on which company or consortium will build the plant is expected by the end of June 2025. Previously, the Ministry of Energy and Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants (KNPP), a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, stated that the winning bidder will be required to use fuel assemblies produced by Ulba-TVS, a Kazakhstan-China joint venture. Ulba-TVS is 51% owned by the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s national nuclear company Kazatomprom, and 49% owned by CGNPC-URC, part of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC).
Kazakhstan is currently evaluating four potential technology providers for its NPP project: CNNC (China, HPR-1000 reactor), Rosatom (Russia, VVER-1200, VVER-1000 reactors), KHNP (South Korea, APR-1400 reactor) and EDF (France, EPR1200 reactor). On Oct. 6, 2024, Kazakhstan held a national referendum on the project. The proposal passed with 71.12% of voters in favor.
In late 2024, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar warned that the estimated construction cost for the NPP could increase by as much as 150% due to rising material and service prices. He noted that early cost estimates are typically based on current prices at the time of design, which can become outdated as the project progresses.
Initially, the Ministry of Energy estimated the plant’s cost (two 1.2 GW reactors totaling 2.4 GW) at $10 billion. Since then, experts and government officials have revised the estimate upward to $11 billion, $12 billion and even $15 billion.
In August 2024, Li Yudong, deputy head of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) office for Central and Eastern Europe, told Kursiv.media that a 1-GW NPP in Kazakhstan would cost around 20 billion yuan (about $2.8 billion) and take five years to build. Based on that estimate, constructing a 2.4 GW facility would cost roughly $5.47 billion if a Chinese contractor is selected.
