Scientific Technical Centre for Hydrogen Energy to be established in Kazakhstan's Kurchatov with China's participation

ASTANA. March 20 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan and China have signed a memorandum on cooperation, under which they agreed to create a scientific and technical innovation center for hydrogen energy in Central Asia in the city of Kurchatov, the Kazakh Energy Ministry's press service said.

The memorandum between the Republican State Enterprise National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the Kazakh Energy Ministry, China Energy Overseas Investment Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Jiaotong University was signed during the visit of the Kazakh delegation headed by the Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Bakytzhan Ilyas to Beijing.

"Under this agreement, the parties agreed to establish the Central Asian Hydrogen Energy Scientific and Technical Innovation Centre in the city of Kurchatov in the Abay region. This center will become a key scientific and technological platform for research and development in the field of hydrogen technologies, testing and implementation of advanced solutions in the energy sector," the statement said.

The project will be an important step in the implementation of Kazakhstan's strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and to promote environmentally friendly technologies in the energy sector.

The city of Kurchatov, the former center of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site closed in 1991, is located on the left bank of the Irtysh River between the cities of Semey and Pavlodar in eastern Kazakhstan.

Kurchatov is home to the Kazakhstan's Tokamak, designed to test materials that can withstand the extreme operating conditions of fusion reactors, such as high temperatures, plasma density and radiation. In late 2024, former Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev proposed the creation of an international fusion laboratory based on the Kurchatov tokamak.

On March 14, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked the government to draft a law on science cities, noting that one of the two science cities could be built in Kurchatov and the other near Almaty.

Kurchatov is also being considered as the site for a second nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan.