INTERFAX –KAZAKHSTAN//

“Russia has handed over the required documents concerning the proposed version of the nuclear reactor for future NPP in the territory of Kazakhstan to the Kazakh party”, said Head  of Russian State Corporation "Rosatom", Sergey Kiriyenko, on Wednesday at the briefing meeting in Astana.

"The comprehensive program for cooperation that has been discussed  today includes also FR development and preparation of the project for possible nuclear power plant construction in the territory of Kazakhstan. But it will occur only when it will be expedient from the economic point of view, as no one  requires atomic energy industry just for observation of certain formalities, it should be determined by the requirement and economic expediency",  he said.

"We confirm all over again, that if such resolution is accepted by the Government of Kazakhstan, we are ready to render assistance in construction of the first nuclear power plant. Besides, the project which is meanwhile under consideration, currently is just the safest project in the world constructed based on the experience of nuclear reactors of nuclear-powered submarines. But for the present moment it is the preliminary elaboration. All the required materials have been handed over to the Kazakh party",  added S. Kiriyenko.

For the first time an intention to construct the NPP (near Balkhash Lake, in the centre of the Republic) was promulgated in Kazakhstan in 1998. But these plans had been received  extremely negatively by the public, and the works on development of the project  have been actually cut down. In November, 2006,  the Government accepted the Resolution on preparation of the NPP  construction in the Mangistausk region, 10 km from Aktau, on the basis of the former Atomic Energy Complex (МАEC) operated using fast neutrons method. Currently this production is liquidated, the fuel is being utilized, and the Complex itself has been transferred to the structure of National Atomic Company Kazatomprom. In this case it was decided to construct the NPP on the basis of VBER-300 medium-power reactors of Russian and European production.

The Russian specialists have promised that the FR development and justification of the NPP project investments would have been finalized in 2009. But in February, 2009 the Government of the Republic suspended the project up to settlement of the matters of the intellectual property transfer with Russia.

Previously Vice-President of National  Atomic Company  Kazatomprom, Sergey Yashin, had informed that the feasibility report of the NPP construction in Aktau had been already passing the procedure of state expert evaluation, and commissioning of the first nuclear power plant unit had been planned for  2016.

The type of the reactor facility is selected – it is a water unit power reactor with power of  300 MW. According to the design two units shall be installed. For the FR development and further construction of the plant the Kazakh-Russian enterprise, which shall implement the design of both the facility itself, and the nuclear power plant construction, has been established.