Kazakhstan Picks Rosatom for New Nuclear Power Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Kazakhstan has opted for Russia's Rosatom Rosatom (Moscow, Russia) to build the country's first new nuclear power plant in more than 30 years.

Rosatom was chosen over South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company Limited (KHNP), China's state-owned developer China National Nuclear Corporation (CNCC) (Beijing, China) and France's Electricité de France (EDF) (Paris, France) for the proposed 1,000-1,400-megawatt (MW) plant, at an estimated cost of US$6.5 billion. A former member of the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is the world's leading producer of uranium but relies heavily on coal, oil and gas for the vast majority of its electricity. The plant will be located at Ulken, on the shores of the country's second largest lake, Lake Balkhash - 300 miles north of Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty. Rostom has proposed using its VVER-1200 and VVER-1000 reactors for the project, which it has also offered to finance.

A separate deal has been struck with China's CNCC to lead a team for the future construction of a second nuclear plant. Last year, a referendum concluded with almost 70% of Kazakh citizens voting in favor of building nuclear power facilities. The country's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the creation of an atomic energy agency in March, charged with managing the construction of up to three nuclear power plants in the coming decades. "The construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan is part of a comprehensive strategy to ensure sustainable development of the country's energy sector," said Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev. "We count on close and transparent cooperation with partners to ensure a high level of safety and localization of production."

Alexey Likhachev, director general of Rosatom, said: "We appreciate the trust shown by the Kazakh side to lead the international consortium that will build a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is our reliable historical partner in the nuclear industry. We are convinced that Russian nuclear technologies, which have proven their reliability, safety and efficiency, will serve the people of Kazakhstan, strengthening its energy sovereignty."

Kazakhstan is also considering using small modular reactors (SMRs) in its revival of nuclear technology, but not until after it has completed a traditional nuclear plant. Various Kazakh Ministers have confirmed that talks have been held with two U.S. companies - GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International (Wilmington, North Carolina) and NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE:SMR) (Portland, Oregon) - about the potential future deployment of their BWRX-300 and SMR VOYGR technology, respectively. The companies were eliminated from the early rounds of the competition to build the country's first nuclear power project due to the lack of proven SMR projects globally.

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