ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan on Friday said that its energy minister had held talks with French officials and companies in the running to build the Central Asian country’s first nuclear power station.
The country, which suffers from energy shortages, approved plans to build a nuclear power plant in a referendum earlier this year.
Kazakh Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev led a delegation to France on a three-day trip this week, the energy ministry said in a statement.
“The Kazakh delegation held negotiations with leading organisations in France’s nuclear industry,” — including plant operator EDF and equipment manufacturers Framatome and Arabelle Solutions — as well as officials from France’s energy and trade ministries, Kazakhstan said.
It said the French side had “declared its readiness to support Kazakhstan in the realisation of the nuclear power plant construction project”.
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Kazakhstan is the world’s leading uranium producer and a major exporter but suffers from electricity shortages at home and has been historically sceptical of nuclear power.
More than 70 percent of Kazakhs have voted in favour of the construction of a new nuclear power plant at a referendum on October 6.
Despite being the world’s leading producer of natural uranium, Kazakhstan is traditionally cautious about nuclear power.
Kazakhstan boasts competent nuclear research complex, which is already engaged in nuclear power R&D through foreign contracts.
