ASTANA – The construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Kazakhstan will not be put to a referendum, Vice Minister of Energy Zhandos Nurmaganbetov said on the sidelines of a June 15 meeting of the Senate, an upper house of the Parliament, reported Kazinform.
Earlier, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that the construction of the NPP would be submitted to a referendum if necessary.
The terms and location of the NPP should have been determined in the first half of 2023, Nurmaganbetov said, but now it will be addressed in public discussions and the maslikhat (local representative body) of the Almaty Region.
“The first question is the location of the site. Next is how we will implement the technology, the financial and economic model, and what impact it will have,” Nurmaganbetov explained.
The NPP with two reactors for $10-12 billion was supposed to be built in the Ulken village on the shore of Lake Balkhash in the Almaty Region in 2034-2035.
According to him, international companies engaged in this area seek cooperation with Kazakhstan. The ministry has recently held talks with a South Korean nuclear power company, now waiting for proposals from China.
Source : Astana Times
