Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan and Russia are planning to sign a memorandum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan.

The relevant agreement will be signed in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, RIA Novosti quoted Yuriy Ushakov, the assistant of the Russian President, as saying.

"There is a memorandum on the construction of a nuclear power plant, and [Sergey] Kiriyenko [CEO of the Rosatom state corporation] will go there [to Astana to sign the document]," he told journalists.

Kazakhstan possesses 0.85 million tons of uranium reserves. It ranks second in the world in terms of the reserves, and first in terms of uranium mining.

Uranium production in Kazakhstan has amounted to 21,240 tons, or about 37 percent of the world production, since 2012. All the uranium produced in Kazakhstan is exported, particularly to China and Europe.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered to prepare an energy balance map of the country to determine which regions are energy-deficient.

Kazakhstan plans to build nuclear power plants in its energy-deficient regions.

Kazakhstan is considering the construction of two new nuclear power plants. The special commission created under a presidential decree has already made a decision on the locations of the power plants.

"The commission has determined two prospective areas for the construction of the nuclear power plants, particularly in the Kurchatov and Balkhash regions," Head of Kazatomprom Vladimir Shkolnik said.