Issue of NPP construction in Kyrgyzstan to be put up for referendum - Kyrgyz first deputy PM
BISHKEK. April 3 (Interfax) - A referendum on the joint construction with Rosatom of a nuclear power plant will be held in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz First Deputy Prime Minister Daniyar Amangeldiyev told reporters on Friday.
"We are working with Rosatom on creating the infrastructure and personnel training. We will only consider the issue of building a nuclear power plant after that. The issue of construction should also be put up for a referendum. But we understand that it's the future, it's a solution to the energy crisis," Amangeldiyev said.
Kyrgyzstan continues "deep consultations" with the state corporation Rosatom at this point, he said.
Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said in an interview with Russia Today on March 23 the company was discussing the construction in Kyrgyzstan not only of a low-capacity nuclear power plant, but also of a medium-capacity plant. Besides, the country has been offered help with projects in the hydropower sector.
"We have said repeatedly that we are ready to build both small and medium-sized plants in Kyrgyzstan, and we are in relevant talks with the Kyrgyz Energy Ministry," Likhachev said.
Kyrgyzstan and Rosatom signed a memorandum on the construction of a low-capacity nuclear power plant on the sidelines Expo 2020 in Dubai in early 2022. It was initially planned that it could be one or two low-capacity nuclear power plants with one or two RITM-200H nuclear reactors with capacity of 55 megawatt each.
Rosatom said in spring 2025 it had given the Kyrgyz Energy Ministry a tentative feasibility study for the project to build a low-capacity nuclear power plant.
Kyrgyz Deputy Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov said in the fall that "work is underway only on how to build an NPP in Kyrgyzstan." "There is a possibility of building a plant, but no fundamental decision has been made yet. Indeed, we have signed a memorandum with Rosatom, and we have it. Some work is underway, but the matters of where and how it will be built have not yet been determined; it is still too early," Rysbekov said.
The relevant subsidiary of Rosatom also has an agreement (in the form of a signed memorandum of cooperation) on the construction in Kyrgyzstan of a wind farm with a total capacity of up to one gigawatt. It was reported on the first Renewable Energy project in the country under these agreements - a wind-power station in the Issyk-Kul region with a capacity of 100 megawatt.
Kyrgyzstan is considering several ways of meeting the growing demand for electrical power. In particular, projects to refurbish hydropower plants and to build new thermal capacities, renewable energy sources are under consideration. The country has studied the issue of building a thermal power plant with a capacity of 500 megawatt in collaboration with Inter RAO Export.
