ASTANA, June 9. /TASS/. Kazakhstan will choose the partner for construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant this June, CEO of Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants Ernat Berdigulov said.

"Within the framework of earlier announced plans, the deadline to decide on the vendor selection is in this June," he said in an interview with the zakon.kz news outlet.

Authorities of Kazakhstan said earlier that they consider several prospective providers of nuclear technologies, with CNNC, KHNP, Rosatom and EDF among them.

Safety is the top priority for Kazakhstan when choosing the partner, Berdigulov said. "We pay particular attention to IAEA standards that address lessons of the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima," he stressed. Choosing the technology partner for the republic "is not merely the issue of construction but also the basis for long-term development of the nuclear cluster of Kazakhstan with training of own specialists, localization of production, export potential and growth of scientific competencies," he added.