China – Kazakhstan: Future NPP Under Discussion

The construction of a future nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan was one of the central topics of the visit to China of Dmitry Medvedev, vice president of the Russian Security Council, and the meetings in Beijing of Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev (pictured). While Medvedev raised the topic in light of Russia-China cooperation during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Kazakh delegation, led by Minister Satkaliyev, devoted itself to technical issues during talks with the head of China’s National Energy Administration, Wang Hongzhi, and Vice President of China’s Atomic Energy Authority, Liu Jing.

The decision to build a modern and powerful nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, which will be the backbone of the entire energy system of this largest former Soviet republic in Central Asia, was approved by an overwhelming majority of votes in a nationwide referendum held in Kazakhstan on October 6, 2024. In addition, the goal of the Astana Government, in accordance with the directives announced by President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev on the occasion of his recent address to the nation, is to “create high value-added clusters in the country.”

The Astana government wants to entrust the implementation of the project to an international consortium. Both Russia and China have expressed their willingness to support the construction of the plant on this occasion.

In this context, the Kazakh minister discussed technical details with Shen Yanfeng, president of China National Nuclear Company (CNNC), which, together with Russia’s state agency Rosatom, is considered a potential supplier of nuclear technology. The Kazakh delegation also visited the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in the southern province of Fujian, where the Hualong-1 sealed water reactor (also known as HPR-1000) is under construction, as is a nuclear conversion and uranium enrichment plant in central China.