With Russia Visit, Kazakh Team Wraps Up Study Tour For Nuclear Project
A Kazakh delegation has toured one of Russia’s main nuclear energy facilities, inspecting the turbine hall, laboratories and cooling systems of power units as it rates possible suppliers for the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant. Similar trips were made late last year to the other countries on Kazakhstan’s short list: South Korea, France and China. Kazakhstan will make a final decision on a supplier or consortium for the nuclear power plant project this year, the Ministry of Energy said, reflecting momentum since Kazakhstan approved the government-backed plan in a national referendum in October. Kazakhstan, the world’s top producer of uranium, wants to reduce reliance on coal, a major source of pollutants, and address electricity shortages as demand grows. Kazakh Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev led a team that visited the Leningrad nuclear power plant near St. Petersburg on Tuesday, showing particular interest in VVER-1200 reactor technology, the flagship project of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear agency. “Today, we have completed our series of working visits aimed at studying the world’s best practices in nuclear energy,” Satkaliyev said, according to the ministry statement. He said the visit “provided us with an in-depth understanding of the technologies and safety measures that ensure environmental protection and the well-being of local residents.” The VVER-1200 reactor, a pressurized water reactor that uses so-called Generation III+ power units, is said to have high safety standards and its technology is being exported to countries including China, India, Egypt and Turkey. The technology incorporates lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011, in which an earthquake and ensuing tsunami knocked out the plant’s energy supply. According to Rosatom, VVER-1200 safety systems allow the nuclear plant to operate in situations such as “earthquakes, floods, storm winds, hurricanes, snowfalls, tornadoes, low and high extremes of temperature, as well as such man induced events as aircraft crash (or impact from aircraft parts), air shock wave, fire, and flooding caused by water pipe breaks.” The Leningrad plant has two VVER-1200 reactors and several older RBMK reactors, which have a graphite-moderated design that was upgraded after the RBMK reactor disaster at Chernobyl in 1986. Those older reactors are gradually being phased out at Leningrad. Many Kazakh people are uneasy about nuclear power because of the legacy of the Semipalatinsk site, where decades of Soviet-era nuclear weapons tests led to health and environmental problems because of radioactive contamination. Ahead of last year’s “yes” vote in the referendum, the government argued that nuclear power would be a relatively clean, cheap – and safe - alternative to coal-fired plants. Some analysts have warned of geopolitical complications for Kazakhstan in choosing foreign partners for its nuclear industry, including concerns about dependence on Russia, which is at war with Ukraine and currently under Western sanctions. But a Carnegie Politika commentary in October said Kazakhstan “has more agency today than at any previous point in negotiations” and could demand favorable terms for nuclear technology transfer, allowing it to build up the “localization” of its industry. By...
