Kazakhstan may commence the simultaneous construction of two nuclear power plants (NPPs), Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Almassadam Satkaliyev said in response to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s comments on the need to create a nuclear cluster in the country.
«Given that the electricity shortage in Kazakhstan is worsening, the country should accelerate the construction of generating capacity and the development of a nuclear cluster. These measures will also allow us to reduce our carbon footprint, thus fulfilling our liabilities under the green agenda. Therefore, I believe the simultaneous implementation of two NPP projects is possible as we possess all the resources required. Construction will take place at separate sites, making this scenario feasible,» Satkaliyev said.
In addition, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of all four candidate companies participating in the NPP construction consortium, noting that the initial commissioning timeline may be shortened.
“We have this task now (to accelerate nuclear project implementation) and we will negotiate this issue with vendors. This (the exact timeline) will depend on a company we finalize talks with,” Satkaliyev elaborated when asked about the chances of commissioning the NPP ahead of the initially planned 10-year term.
Previously, he emphasized that Kazakhstan requires more than one NPP to successfully develop its nuclear industry and confirmed that no additional referendum will be held regarding the construction of the second power plant.
At a cabinet meeting on Jan 28, attended by the president, Tokayev instructed the cabinet and the state-owned holding Samruk-Kazyna to develop a long-term strategy for nuclear energy development and identify the most suitable sites in Kazakhstan for construction of future NPPs. Previously, the president mentioned the possibility of building two or even three NPPs.
This week, the Ministry of Energy announced that contracts for the construction of the first 2.4-gigawatt (GW) NPP will include sanction clauses to mitigate potential risks. Notably, in January, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the top management of Rosatom, including its CEO, Alexey Likhachev, and the head of the Rosatom-affiliated Northern Sea Route Directorate, Vyacheslav Ruksha.
Remarkably, the initial cost of the first NPP construction project, announced over a year ago, was estimated at $10 billion — an amount comparable to the cost of Rosatom’s NPPs. However, the projected cost was later revised multiple times, reaching as high as $15 billion, while Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar suggested that the project’s cost could soar by 1.5 times compared to the initial figure.
In August 2024, chairman of the Kazakhstan Electrical Power Association Talgat Temirkhanov told Kursiv.media that Kazakhstan needs to launch at least four NPPs with a combined capacity of 9.6 GW by 2060 to meet the growing electricity demand. Previously, Almassadam Satkaliyev also emphasized the need for multiple NPPs by 2060, pointing to the Ulken settlement in the Zhambyl district of the Almaty region, near Lake Balkhash and the town of Kurchatov in eastern Kazakhstan, as potential sites for their construction.
Timur Zhantikin, CEO of Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants, a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, previously reported that proposals from four international companies indicated the cost of one kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated by an NPP in Kazakhstan would be approximately eight cents. Currently, there are four potential contractors for the country’s first NPP: CNNC (China, HPR-1000 reactor), Rosatom (Russia, VVER-1200, VVER-1000 reactors), KHNP (South Korea, APR-1400 reactor) and EDF (France, EPR1200 reactor).
Kazakhstan aims to achieve a nuclear capacity of 2.4 GW by 2035. Initial plans focus on constructing one NPP with two units in Ulken. The local community had supported the project, which was further confirmed in a national referendum held in October 2024, in which 71.12% of voters said «yes» to the NPP construction. The plant will utilize Generation III+ technology, which is designed to make reactors resilient to both standard failures and emergency situations that go beyond calculated risk scenarios.
Source: Kursiv Media
