Kazakstan Considers Nuclear Industry
Kazakstan Considers Nuclear Industry
The Kazak government is considering whether to build nuclear power stations, but NBCentralAsia experts say the public still need to be convinced that it can be handled safely.
On June 21, the energy and mineral resources minister, Baktykoja Izmukhambetov, said that a feasibility study for building nuclear power stations in the north and south of Kazakstan will be ready by 2009. After that, the government will consider whether to go ahead with construction. The study will cost the state 12 billion tenge, or around 100 million US dollars.
Kazakstan’s growing economy requires more and more energy, and the increasing shortage is starting to raise alarm bells.
Most electricity in Kazakstan is generated at coal-, gas- and oil-fired power stations, but the country also has significant uranium reserves that it does not use for domestic needs.
The nuclear debate was ignited in 1998, when the area around Lake Balkhash was earmarked for a possible nuclear station. Environmental and civil activists spoke out against the proposal, but the idea not been abandoned and the debate is gathering strength.
Political scientist Eduard Poletaev says nuclear power remains a contentious issue for the government, and the government will have to work hard to convince the public that nuclear projects are safe.
“The Kazak public listens to ecologists. And experience has shown that the issue can become very politicised, reverberating not only in the newspapers but also in the political sphere,” he said.
Kazakstan’s business sector prefers to invest in projects that recoup their costs rapidly, and Poletaev doubts they will be interested in backing nuclear power plant construction. Nor is it likely that foreign investors other than Russia will touch the project, he said.
On June 19, Igor Finogenov, the head of the Eurasian Development Bank, a Russia-Kazak joint venture, said the institution is already looking into investing in Kazak nuclear power.
According to Petr Svoik, head of the Public Anti-Monopoly Commission, a non-government group based in Almaty, “The decision to build the Balkhash nuclear power station has effectively been taken.” People are now being brought round to the idea that Kazakstan needs nuclear energy, he said.
However, the risks involved in building and running a nuclear station are exceptionally high in Kazakstan. The dangers do not stem from technical difficulties as such, he says, but from poor management practices in the country.
“There is very low capacity to abide by the law, to ensure the rules are followed, and to resist corruption here,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On June 21, the energy and mineral resources minister, Baktykoja Izmukhambetov, said that a feasibility study for building nuclear power stations in the north and south of Kazakstan will be ready by 2009. After that, the government will consider whether to go ahead with construction. The study will cost the state 12 billion tenge, or around 100 million US dollars.
Kazakstan’s growing economy requires more and more energy, and the increasing shortage is starting to raise alarm bells.
Most electricity in Kazakstan is generated at coal-, gas- and oil-fired power stations, but the country also has significant uranium reserves that it does not use for domestic needs.
The nuclear debate was ignited in 1998, when the area around Lake Balkhash was earmarked for a possible nuclear station. Environmental and civil activists spoke out against the proposal, but the idea not been abandoned and the debate is gathering strength.
Political scientist Eduard Poletaev says nuclear power remains a contentious issue for the government, and the government will have to work hard to convince the public that nuclear projects are safe.
“The Kazak public listens to ecologists. And experience has shown that the issue can become very politicised, reverberating not only in the newspapers but also in the political sphere,” he said.
Kazakstan’s business sector prefers to invest in projects that recoup their costs rapidly, and Poletaev doubts they will be interested in backing nuclear power plant construction. Nor is it likely that foreign investors other than Russia will touch the project, he said.
On June 19, Igor Finogenov, the head of the Eurasian Development Bank, a Russia-Kazak joint venture, said the institution is already looking into investing in Kazak nuclear power.
According to Petr Svoik, head of the Public Anti-Monopoly Commission, a non-government group based in Almaty, “The decision to build the Balkhash nuclear power station has effectively been taken.” People are now being brought round to the idea that Kazakstan needs nuclear energy, he said.
However, the risks involved in building and running a nuclear station are exceptionally high in Kazakstan. The dangers do not stem from technical difficulties as such, he says, but from poor management practices in the country.
“There is very low capacity to abide by the law, to ensure the rules are followed, and to resist corruption here,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
