Kazakhstan’s First Nuclear Plant to Run on Domestic Uranium

Although Kazakhstan does not yet have a full nuclear fuel cycle, its first nuclear power plant will operate using domestic uranium, representatives of the Atomic Energy Agency of Kazakhstan told Orda.kz during a recent briefing.

Kazakhstan is widely known as the world leader in uranium mining. However, the country currently lacks facilities for enriching uranium, Orda.kz reports.

The IAEA’s “Red Book” gives a conservative estimate of the country's uranium reserves, suggesting they will last only until 2040 (other estimates extend to the 2070s). This raises the question of whether Kazakhstan can independently supply nuclear fuel for its planned nuclear power plants — especially if there are three of them.

Following the ceremony marking the start of construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power station, officials from the Atomic Energy Agency said the issue is being actively addressed.

There are no concerns about fuel shortages, they said:

As part of the construction of the nuclear power plant, we plan to develop the full nuclear fuel cycle. Historically, we’ve produced uranium powders and pellets, and since 2021, we’ve been manufacturing fuel assemblies, which are complete nuclear fuel units loaded directly into reactors, said Asset Makhambetov, Deputy Chair of the Atomic Energy Agency of Kazakhstan.

He also noted that parallel negotiations are underway with Russia to ensure supplies of enriched uranium if necessary.

We should be cautious when interpreting the ‘Red Book’ numbers. It contains certain data [based on current production and exploration levels – Ed.], but there is also a volume of future extraction that will be comparable. Our priority is to supply our nuclear power plant with our own nuclear fuel, Makhambetov added.

Yernat Berdigulov, General Director of “KAES” LLP, emphasized that active talks are ongoing to localize nuclear fuel production within Kazakhstan.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny