Kazakhstan passes nuke plant referendum, opening opportunity for Korea

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Kazakhstan passes nuke plant referendum, opening opportunity for Korea

Published: 07 Oct. 2024, 17:13

LIM JEONG-WON
lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev casts his vote during a referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant, at a polling station in Astana on Sunday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan passed a referendum to build its first nuclear power plant by majority vote Monday, meaning Korea now has a chance to be included in an international consortium to build the reactor in the Central Asian country.

Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the referendum results at 11 a.m. local time. Voting took place on Sunday.

“On Monday, as of 8 a.m., the counting of the votes had finished, and the CEC has made the conclusion today,” said Nurlan Äbdirov, chairman of the CEC, in a briefing at the CEC headquarters in Astana on Monday. “A total of 63.66 percent of those registered to vote participated in the referendum, and 71.12 percent of them voted in favor of the referendum. The CEC has made these results official.”

With the referendum passing, Kazakhstan will commence building a nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Balkhash in the southeastern region of the country. A specific schedule for the project has yet to be decided.

Regarding who will build the plant, an international consortium comprising the four initial candidates from Korea, Russia, France and China will likely get the job. The project could cost $10 to 12 billion, according to an estimate by the Kazakh cabinet.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Sunday as he was casting his own vote that an international consortium of leading global companies with advanced technologies would be involved in the nuclear power plant's construction.

“My personal vision on this matter is that an international consortium would need to work in Kazakhstan made up of global companies that possess the most advanced technologies,” said Tokayev.

Reuters reported the same day, quoting a popular political blogger, that Tokayev's office had already made the decision to select Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom. However, a source confirmed to the Korea JoongAng Daily that such a decision had not been made and that Tokayev’s suggestion of an international consortium is the position of the Kazakh government.

Reservations about Russia taking charge of building the nuclear power plant were one of the reasons some voters opted against the idea, as memories of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 when Kazakhstan was still a part of the Soviet Union remain fresh among some people.

“Many Kazakh people participated in the clean-up operations at Chernobyl, and it was a scary thing,” said a voter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I wonder if giving the project to Russia, if that happens, would be a wise choice.”

Voters at polling stations in Astana, the Kazakh capital, and the small town of Akmol on the outskirts of Astana on Sunday expressed both enthusiasm and reservations about a nuclear power plant being built in the country, but they were unanimously adamant about the need for a referendum and its function of listening to the opinions of the Kazakh people.

“I think this move — building a nuclear power plant — is crucial for the future of the country, not just in securing energy but also in developing our industries,” said a senior voter in Akmol who had come to the nearest polling station despite having broken her arm. “We need to think about what is best for our children and how our country needs to move forward.”

Some voters were less convinced about the idea of a nuclear power plant; however, a few expressed doubts about the risks and considerations that need to be taken into account for it to be built.

“I have some contradictions regarding the nuclear power plant, and I am not so sure about my own vote either,” said another voter in Astana. “On the one hand, it is a good idea, but on the other hand, I do not think that the country is quite so mature to handle such things. Many construction projects in Kazakhstan take a lot of time, and sometimes, there are delays in the schedule, which takes more and more funds. Therefore, this is a highly sensitive issue. The contractor should be quite qualified, and the government should be very responsible.”

A Korean consortium, including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), recently won the bid for a $17 billion project to build two nuclear reactors in Dukovany by the Czech Republic, as well as eyeing further nuclear reactor deals with the Netherlands and Poland, according to KHNP President Whang Joo-ho.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]