Uzatom: Uzbekistan building Central Asia's first nuclear power plant to strengthen energy security - EXCLUSIVE

Uzbekistan, as the first country in the Central Asian region to build a nuclear power plant (NPP), plans to construct a 330 MW station in the Jizzakh region, Azim Akhmedkhadjaev, Director of Uzbekistan's Atomic Energy Agency (Uzatom), told Report.

The station will consist of six reactors, each with a capacity of 55 MW.

"In Uzbekistan, the most populated country in the region [40 million people], the annual GDP growth rate is 7-8%, and population growth is approximately one million people. Accordingly, the demand for electricity is continuously increasing," said Akhmedkhadjaev.

According to him, Russia's Rosatom state company will be the main contractor for the NPP. Construction is planned to begin soon, and the station is scheduled to be commissioned in phases by 2033.

"The NPP in the Jizzakh region will not be built solely through our efforts and Rosatom's. This is a joint project between Uzbekistan and Russia, where both parties have their rights and obligations. Additionally, according to our vision, companies from other countries can participate in creating infrastructure around the NPP, service divisions, machine stations, and other facilities. In other words, this is international teamwork," said Akhmedkhadjaev in response to a question about whether sanctions against Russia would affect the project.

He emphasized that Uzbekistan will build a small-capacity NPP, and in this category, Rosatom's technologies are among the most reliable in the world.

"When choosing the contractor company, we focused not on political criteria but only on commercial objectives and the availability of the most reliable and safest technology. Safety was our main criterion in selecting the contractor. Uzbekistan strictly fulfills its obligations to partners. In 2018, an Intergovernmental Agreement on NPP construction was signed. Work began based on this agreement, and we continue to fulfill the obligations we undertook that year," Akhmedkhadjaevemphasized.