The document specifying the main conditions and principles of cooperation in the implementation of the project was signed during the state visit of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to Kazakhstan. According to Reuters, both sides also concluded an agreement on Moscow granting a state export credit to finance the power plant.
Last year, as a result of a tender, the Russian state-owned company Rosatom was selected as the leader of an international consortium to build the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. This country is planning dynamic development of nuclear energy and by 2050 it intends to build at least three nuclear power plants. Astana entrusted the construction of the second nuclear power plant to the Chinese company CNNC.
Nuclear power plant. Illustrative photoFilip Singer / PAP
Rosatom proposed using VVER-1200 reactors of the latest generation “3+” in the power plant. It is assumed that the power plant will consist of two power units with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each, scheduled to be commissioned in the mid-2030s. The station, named Balkhash, will be built near the lake of the same name.
The head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, announced the day before that main construction works may start in 2027. He did not rule out the participation in the consortium of suppliers from China, France or South Korea, with whom Kazakhstan has already held talks, but stressed that the key equipment for the power plant would be produced in Russia.
