Kazakhstan votes on building its first nuclear power plant – DW – October 6, 2024

Kazakhstan voted on Sunday in a referendum on whether to build the country’s first nuclear power plant to address chronic electricity shortages.

The result is to be announced on Monday.

The issue is controversial in the former Soviet republic, which was exposed to massive radiation during USSR nuclear tests. The possible involvement of Russia in the project also raised some concerns.

However, opposition to the project appears to have been suppressed by the country’s government. Local private media reported dozens of arrests of critics ahead of Sunday’s referendum.

The referendum is considered valid if at least 50% of those eligible to vote have cast their votes and the result is expected to be positive.

To ensure high voter turnout, Kazakhs are allowed to vote even if they are not registered on the electoral roll.

Why do the Kazakh authorities want a nuclear power plant?

Although Kazakhstan has plenty of oil and produces nearly half of the world’s uranium, the Central Asian country often faces electricity shortages as its coal and hydroelectric plants cannot meet domestic demand.

The country is also trying to free itself from dependence on coal, which is considered extremely harmful to the environment.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called the nuclear power plant “the largest project in the history of independent Kazakhstan.”

“The referendum itself is further evidence of the enormous changes in Kazakhstan over the last five years – another clear demonstration of the concept of a state that listens,” Tokayev said before the vote.

China, France, Russia and South Korea have all submitted bids to build the new power plant, to be built on the shores of Lake Balkhash near the semi-abandoned village of Ulken in the Kazakh steppes.

The cabinet estimates that building a nuclear power plant would cost $10 to 12 billion (€9.1 to 10.9 billion).

Negative nuclear sentiment

Opponents of the nuclear power plant say Kazakhstan’s energy needs can be met by using greener gas-fired power plants, which also pose fewer risks than the nuclear option.

Some residents of the Lake Balkhash area also expressed concerns that the project could negatively impact the water quality in the lake.

Kazakhstan’s nuclear history is checkered, as the country was the site of hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapons tests from 1949 to 1989, which left vast areas uninhabitable and caused illness among people living nearby.

Tens of thousands of Kazakhs also fell ill after helping clean up the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, then also a Soviet republic, in 1986.

tj/rm (Reuters, AFP)