Kazakhstan launches initial work on nuclear power plant construction
The ceremony marking the start of construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant (NPP), led by Russia’s Rosatom, took place in the village of Ulken in the Zhambyl district of the Almaty region.
Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants (KNPP) — a subsidiary of the state-owned Samruk-Kazyna holding — is the operator for all future nuclear power plants in the country, but has been placed under the trust management of the Agency for Atomic Energy (AAE).
Rosatom was selected as the leader of the international consortium for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant. As part of the consortium, the Russian company will be involved in building the plant and will then transfer it to Kazakhstan.
At the ceremony, Head of the AAE Almassadam Satkaliyev and Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev pushed a button to mark the start of engineering surveys. They then carried out drilling works to collect soil samples, which were ceremonially handed over to the Russian side in a capsule for analysis.
The scale model shows what Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant may look like, KNPP noted. The photo shows unit No. 6 of the Novovoronezh NPP — the world’s first Generation III+ unit.
The cost of the first 2.4-gigawatt NPP, to be built on the shores of Lake Balkhash, will range from $14 billion to $15 billion, Satkaliyev said.
«Today’s ceremony marks the beginning of engineering surveys, a key preparatory stage toward the construction of the NPP in Kazakhstan, on which not only the choice of the specific site and plant configuration depends, but also the safety, reliability and economic efficiency of the entire project,» Satkaliyev stated.
Likhachev, in turn, praised the village of Ulken, saying it would become one of the most attractive places to live in Kazakhstan and thanked its residents for their almost unanimous vote in favor of the plant’s construction. He also pledged to make the project in Kazakhstan Rosatom’s top priority.
In addition, representatives of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, the Belarusian NPP, Hungary’s Paks II NPP and Bangladesh’s Rooppur NPP — where power units with VVER-1200 reactors are already operating or under construction — addressed Ulken residents during the ceremony.
They wished success in the project’s implementation and stressed the importance of developing the nuclear energy industry for the region’s social and economic growth.
At the same time, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has been named the leader of the consortiums to build Kazakhstan’s second and third nuclear power plants. Their exact locations, capacity and launch timelines have not yet been announced.
Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Minister Roman Sklyar has suggested CNNC could build the second NPP faster than Rosatom.
