On the sidelines of the Tashkent Investment Forum, the First Deputy Minister of Energy/Director of Uzatom Agency Azim Akhmedkhadzhaev said told at what stage the negotiations with Russia were at with respect to the Uzbekistan nuclear power plant project.
At the end of March, First Deputy CEO of Rosatom Kirill Komarov said that negotiations between Uzbekistan and Russia on nuclear plants project were advancing “quite successfully.” According to him, experts have already examined in detail the site where the construction of the nuclear power plant is planned, and the most optimal technological solutions have been determined.
He added that engineers and companies from around the world, including France and South Korea, will participate in the project.
“We are just negotiating, only words for now, nothing specific. The Russian authorities also speaks in a little general terms, but they speak with some additions and take this into a different story. Overall, there is nothing concrete. With them, we are only considering the directions, what opportunities exist and in what directions,” said the head of Uzatom.
According to him, Uzbekistan and Russia are discussing cooperation not only in nuclear energy.
“Because the nuclear is not only energy. There is medicine, there is agriculture, there is water purification, and so on. We are currently exploring other similar areas. After this, we will clearly understand which area is closer to us and which direction we should develop first,” said Azim Akhmedkhadzhaev.
Azim Akhmedkhadzhaev also said that there are no negotiations with other countries on nuclear energy.
“There are no specific negotiations with any country. Various proposals are coming from other countries. For example, from the USA or Korea. If you noticed, they came to us from Hyundai. There are different proposals, we will consider them in working order,” he said.
At the end of December, Hyundai Engineering announced that it was considering the possibility of building small nuclear reactors in Uzbekistan. We are talking about advanced modular reactors based on integrated systems (SMART), which KAERI has been developing since 1997. Cooling systems use high pressure water.
Earlier, Energy Minister Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov told Daryo that meetings and negotiations with the Russian Rosatom were ongoing.
“Taking into account the fact that this is a very large strategic project, there is no need to rush, you need to weigh everything, measure not 7 times, but 77 times. After a complete analysis and calculations, we can submit a report to the government and the president,” the Minister of Energy noted.
