ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 4. Companies from four countries can take part in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, said Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Almassadam Satkaliyev during the XV KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum, Trend reports.
"At the moment, the preliminary stage of selecting potential vendors (supplier company) for the construction of nuclear power plant is underway. A list of four participants has already been officially formed. These are companies from France, China, Russia and South Korea," he said.
As Satkaliyev noted, in addition to this, the Ministry of Energy is considering two proposals from American counterparts for the construction of small modular reactors.
"In accordance with the statement of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in order to make a final decision on the need to build a nuclear power plant in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a general national dialogue will be held in the form of a referendum," he added.
As previously stated by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kazakhstan will submit to a referendum the issue of building a nuclear power plant in the country. He noted that the development of nuclear power is a particularly important economic and political issue.
Kazakhstan ranks second in the world in terms of proven reserves of natural uranium. About 14 percent of all proven world reserves are concentrated in the depths of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The country's total proven reserves are estimated at more than 700,000 tons of uranium.
In 2009, Kazakhstan came out on top in terms of uranium mining in the world and continues to maintain its leading position in the world market. Kazakhstan produces about 40 percent of the world's uranium production. In 2021, the volume of uranium production amounted to 21,800 tons, according to the results of 2022—21,300 tons.