Central Asian country already planning small modular reactor facility with Rosatom
Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom and Uzbekistan’s nuclear energy agency (Uzatom) have signed an agreement to study the possibility of building a nuclear power station the Central Asian country, potentially comprising two to four VVER-1000 pressurised water reactor units.
Rosatom said the agreement, signed on 20 June during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, builds on earlier commitments made during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s visit to Uzbekistan in May and follows a meeting between Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachev and Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev in April.
In 2024, Uzatom and Rosatom signed a protocol for the start of work on a project to build a nuclear station that would house six 55-MW RITM-200N small modular reactor (SMR) units.
The RITM-200N technology is an adaptation of marine technology for land-based deployment. RITM-200 reactors, on which the RITM-200N is based, have been used on Russian icebreakers.
The planned facility would be in the Jizzakh region, near the border with Tajikistan in the east of the country.
“The combination of small and large-capacity nuclear power plants can form a powerful carbon-free energy cluster in Uzbekistan,” Likhachev said, adding that Rosatom has already started manufacturing equipment the Jizzakh SMR plant project.
Azim Akhmedkhadjaev, head of Uzatom, said a joint working group has been formed to examine the new large-scale project, including cost estimates and key implementation conditions.
There are no nuclear power plants in any of the five ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, although Uzbekistan and its neighbour Kazakhstan, both uranium producers, have long said their growing economies needed them.
Uzbekistan is looking to nuclear power as a low-carbon energy source to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost electricity generating capacity.
Uzatom said that according to forecasts, demand for energy resources in Uzbekistan will almost double by 2050.
A small nuclear plant based on the RITM-200N reactor is already under construction in the village of Ust-Kuyga, Yakutia, 4,000 km to the east of Moscow in Russia’s Far East.
