Kazakhstan has sufficient potential for nuclear power development, Energy Ministry says

Kazakhstan has sufficient potential for nuclear power development, Energy Ministry says

By 2035, Kazakhstan intends to increase the volume of energy generated by nuclear power plants to 6 percent. This will fully cover the country’s electrical needs. This was announced at a briefing by Kazakh Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov. He noted that the country has all the prerequisites for the construction of a nuclear power plant on its territory. Kazakhstan is the world leader in natural uranium production. In addition, there is an in-house production of nuclear fuel components, as well as access to uranium isotope enrichment services. The head of the Energy Ministry emphasized that the country produces a sufficient amount of nuclear fuel. The National Nuclear Center and the Institute of Nuclear Physics have three research nuclear reactors. In total, about 24,000 people work in the nuclear industry. Since 2010, about 3,000 specialists have been trained in the areas of nuclear and technical physics. The Energy Minister added that recently the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia signed a memorandum on training personnel for this industry in leading Russian universities.

“Given the upcoming shortage of electricity, the need to reduce the dependence on coal generation due to the global environmental agenda, as well as the adopted programs in Kazakhstan, the statement on the transition to carbon neutrality, taking into account the deterioration of production capacities, as well as the huge potential of Kazakhstan in the development of nuclear energy, the construction of nuclear power plants is the most promising solution,” Akchulakov said.

 

Translation by Aruzhan Bizhigitova 

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova