The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kazakhstan has announced the preliminary results of a national referendum on the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant, for which 71.12% of participants voted in favour. China, France, Russia and South Korea are in the running to build the new power plant, which will be located on the shores of Lake Balkhash.
Kazakhstan does not yet have nuclear capacity (the 52 MW Aktau nuclear facility opened in 1973 was closed in 1999 after the government joined the global non-proliferation agreement), but is the world’s first uranium producer, with 21.8 kt produced in 2023, and has the world’s second largest proved reserves of uranium with over 316 kt. Kazakhstan's Strategy 2050 targets 2 GW of nuclear capacity mix by 2050. In June 2022, the Government selected Lake Ballkhash as the location to build the country's first nuclear power plant. In August 2023, the Ministry of Energy confirmed the selected site for the country's first nuclear power plant, located in the Almaty region, and four potential suppliers were shortlisted for the project.
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