ASTANA, August 22. /TASS/. Russia, Kazakhstan and China are "doomed to cooperate" in various fields, including technology, Rosatom State Corporation CEO Alexey Likhachev told journalist Akmaral Batalova in an interview dedicated to the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan.
"You need to be clear about what you will do with the spent fuel. Like Ukrainians stack it up waiting for the grandchildren to come and sort this out, or launch additional production, benefiting from this and, most importantly, clearly reducing the environmental burden on both the project and the country? We are currently actively doing such work with China. We even have a special roadmap for the fourth generation [of nuclear power plants], for closing the nuclear fuel cycle. And here we can form an alliance for three, we are ready for it. In a good way, we are committed to cooperation between Russia, Kazakhstan and China not only in foreign trade, logistics, energy, but also in technology. That's how geographically we are located, that we cannot get anywhere without this cooperation, " Likhachev said.
About nuclear power plants
On August 8, Kazakhstan and Russia launched the construction of a nuclear power plant in the republic. The ceremony with the participation of Likhachev and Chairman of the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Agency Almasadam Satkaliyev was held near the village of Ulken in the Alma Ata Region.
Rosatom will build two power units with VVER-1200 reactors, the same as at the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant now under construction in Turkey.
A referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant was held in Kazakhstan in 2024, and the bulk of the voters supported it. The village of Ulken located on the shore of the Lake Balkhash. The water from the lake is to be used for cooling nuclear power plant reactors.