National Security Committee and Prosecutor General to join investigation of power plant accident in Western Kazakhstan

ALMATY. July 4 (Interfax) - The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Alikhan Smailov, ordered the creation of a working group to investigate the causes of the accident at the Mangistau Nuclear Power Plant, which led to failures in the energy system in the west of the country.

"The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Energy to create a working group of experts to study in detail the causes of the accidents and identify those responsible. It will include representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the National Security Committee, the Energy Supervision Committee of the Ministry of Energy, the akimats of Atyrau and Mangistau regions, KEGOC, Samruk- Energy, KazMunayGas and independent experts," the government's press service said on Tuesday.

"The most important thing is to find out the causes of the accidents. Was there a human factor? At the same time, there is no need to focus only on yesterday's incident. A series of failures to make decisions, and delaying and ignoring problems led to it. All this needs to be objectively sorted out," Smailov's press service quoted him as saying.

The head of government gave an instruction to prepare proposals for the prompt elimination of the consequences of the accidents, the strengthening the Western Energy System, its integration with the Unified Energy System of Kazakhstan, and the expansion of reserve generation to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

Smailov demanded that a full-fledged conclusion be prepared within one week, with supporting documents and proposed measures attached.