ASTANA, May 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and Kazakhstan have signed a memorandum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan during a Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session in Astana on Thursday.
The agreement was signed by nuclear corporations Rosatom and Kazatomprom in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The memorandum of understanding outlines the parties’ intent to construct a nuclear power plant with an installed capacity of 300-1,200 megawatts based on water-moderated reactors designed by Russia in the Kazakh city of Kurchatov. The agreement also provides for nuclear fuel supplies, including production of the fuel or its parts in Kazakhstan, maintenance of the facility and the training of personnel.
This will be the first power plant built in the country following the shutdown of its BN-350 nuclear reactor in 1999.
Drafting the project documentation for the construction of the plant and identifying its investment may take up to a year and a half, Rosatom chief Sergei Kirienko told reporters.
Several years ago, Nazarbayev announced that the republic would begin to build a new nuclear power plant. The Kazakh leader recalled that his country is the world’s leading producer of uranium and possesses huge scientific resources and nuclear energy infrastructure. Kazakhstan supplies about 37 percent of uranium to global markets.
In March 2011, Kirienko met with Kazakh authorities to discuss issues relating to the project, which was sketched out but later halted following the Fukushima disaster. Earlier this year, Nazarbayev ordered his government to tackle all the questions on the location, funding sources and time limits of the construction by the end of the first quarter.