Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.7
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Nuclear power plant (NPP) in Uzbekistan will become one of the few in the world that will be completely rid of 14 so-called adverse factors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Trend reports citing Uzbek media.
“The IAEA lists 15 adverse factors, in the presence of which the construction of a nuclear power plant is in question. So our current site is completely free of 14 of them. Such case is very rare in the world. Speaking of the 15th factor - groundwater should be at a distance of 6-12 meters from the surface, and this can easily be solved by engineering. We have already issued a report of 18 volumes of 250 pages each. For each of the most stringent requirements of the IAEA, 1000 arguments have been given," director general of the OzGashkLITI state unitary enterprise Yuldash Magrupov said.
At the moment, specialists from the Russian company Atomstroyexport and OzGashkLITI are conducting geophysical and seismological work in this area. The research results will be studied, on the basis of which the development of the technical design of the nuclear power plant will continue.
In addition, work has already begun on the development of an engineering survey program for a technical project, as well as the mobilization of personnel and equipment.
Engineering surveys at the priority site are planned to be completed before the end of 2019, the results of which will form the basis of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Moreover, according to the work schedule, by the end of 2020 the EIA will be developed and put up for public hearings.
The contract for the construction of nuclear power plants is planned to be concluded before the end of this year. Furthermore, the construction itself will begin in 2022. The project will be financed at the expense of own funds of Uzbekistan and the state loan of Russia.
The nuclear power plant will consist of two VVER-1200 power units of the 3+ generation with a capacity of 1200 MW each. After its introduction, Uzbekistan will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere to 14 million tons and nitrogen oxides by 36,000 tons.
As a result of the launch of the station, Uzbekistan will annually save 3.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. By exporting saved gas without even processing it, $550-$600 million a year will come into the country’s budget.
Recently, the Director General of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev said that one dollar invested in nuclear power plants in Uzbekistan under the Rosatom project could bring $1.9 to local suppliers, $4.3 to the country's GDP and $1.4 to the budget in the form tax revenue.
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