Baku, Azerbaijan, July 20
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
An agency for development of nuclear energy in Uzbekistan, Uzatom, will be established by the corresponding decree of the Uzbek president, Uzbek media reported.
The new body will be established under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan. It will work on development and implementation of a unified state policy and strategic directions in the sphere of development and use of nuclear energy.
The president ordered to draft and submit the law “On use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes” to the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament of Uzbekistan before Oct. 1, 2018.
Uzatom also has to draft the concept for development of nuclear energy in Uzbekistan in 2019-2029 until Dec. 20, 2018, and a portfolio of investment projects for development of nuclear energy in Uzbekistan until June 1, 2019.
Until November 1, 2019, the agency must draft a state program for development of nuclear energy in Uzbekistan in 2019-2029, as well as prepare a list of measures to ensure timely implementation of the aforementioned concept and program.
It was earlier reported that Tashkent and Moscow are completing the intergovernmental agreement on construction of two nuclear power plant (NPP) units in Uzbekistan.
In mid-April 2018, during the opening of the Kandym gas processing complex, the president of Uzbekistan said that an agreement on construction of the first NPP in the region will be signed with Russia until the end of 2018.
The Russian side offers Uzbekistan to build a station consisting from two modern generation 3+ VVER-1200 units. The project of a similar NPP, which Rosatom is building in Bangladesh, costs roughly $13 billion, $11.3 billion of which is provided by Russia as a state export credit.
It is planned that 3.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be saved as a result of the launch of the NPP. At the same time, the volume of carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere, formed by burning natural gas, will be reduced by 3 million tons per year.
Uzbekistan offered Russia 10 sites across the country for construction of the NPP. Among the sites under consideration are the central part of the energy system (Tashkent region), the eastern part (Ferghana Valley), and the Bukhara-Samarkand and Surkhandarya regions.
At the same time, the head of Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev, stated during his visit to Tashkent that the station is likely to be built in the Navoi region.
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