Russia breaks ground for Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant

ALMATY – Russia on Aug 8 launched work to build the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, the world’s biggest uranium producer and vast Central Asian state where Moscow, Beijing and Europe are all vying for influence.

Russia has historically been the sole dominant player in the region and is trying to maintain its position. China has invested billions of dollars

as part of its “Belt and Road Initiative”.

In a joint statement, Kazakhstan and Russia’s nuclear agencies said they started “engineering surveys to select the optimal site and prepare project documentation for the construction of a large-capacity nuclear power plant”.

“This project is Kazakhstan’s strategic choice and a driver of long-term economic growth for the region and the country as a whole,” said the head of the Kazakh nuclear agency Almasadam Satkaliev.

China is set to build two more plants in the resource-rich country, with the details to be revealed by the end of the year, Kazakh authorities said.

Kazakhstan supplies 43 per cent of the world’s uranium and is the third-largest supplier of raw uranium to the European Union.

But it struggles to generate enough electricity for domestic consumption and nuclear power is a sensitive topic in the country following Soviet-era nuclear tests that exposed 1.5 million people to radiation.

Construction of the first nuclear plant – to be built near the half-abandoned village of Ulken on Lake Balkhash – is set to take several years. Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said the reactor will have a 60-year lifespan, with the option to extend that for another 20 years.

France and South Korea also competed for the rights to secure the contract to build the station, with Kazakhstan saying it chose Russia and China which “objectively had the best bids”.

Across the region, Russia also plans to build a nuclear plant in Uzbekistan and wants to set up a small reactor in Kyrgyzstan. AFP