Russia signs agreement to build first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan

Russia signed an agreement on Thursday with Kazakhstan to build the first nuclear power plant in Central Asia's largest country.

Kazakhstan, the world's biggest producer of uranium and a country which suffered from the fallout from Soviet nuclear testing, has been discussing the possibility of atomic power for at least two decades.

"The agreement signed today on the construction of the Balkhash NPP has an important role," Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana.

"I would like to thank you for your support in painting this large-scale project," Tokayev said.

The two sides also signed an agreement on the provision of a Russian export credit to finance the construction of the plant.

Kazakhstan voted in a 2024 referendum in favour of constructing a nuclear power plant and designated the village of Ulken, on the shores of Lake Balkhash and in the southeast of the country, as the site.

Kazakhstan's nuclear energy agency said last month that Russia would lend the country around 85% of the $15 billion cost of the nuclear power plant, which will have two reactors.

Kazakhstan, a nation of 20.5 million people, plans to have 2.4 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.

-Tamara Vaal/Reuters