Kazakhstan considers the Caspian coast as a site for a new nuclear power plant

The Caspian Sea coast in western Kazakhstan is being considered as a possible location for a nuclear power plant, the head of the country’s atomic energy agency, Almasadam Satkaliyev, told reporters.

“Indeed, western Kazakhstan, the Caspian coast, is being considered as a potential site for a nuclear station with small or medium reactors. Relevant studies will be carried out soon on the feasibility of construction,” he said at a briefing after a session of the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament.

Satkaliyev stressed that research would assess the site’s compliance with all safety requirements. He recalled that western Kazakhstan had earlier hosted the world’s first experimental fast-neutron reactor, BN-350, launched in 1973 in the city of Shevchenko (now Aktau) and decommissioned in 1999.

Kazakhstan has the longest Caspian coastline among littoral states, which also include Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan.

A national referendum in 2024 approved the construction of a nuclear power plant, with one project planned in Almaty region and the possibility of a second also under review there. Authorities are also studying sites in Abai region in the east of the country.