A media tour to the selected priority site for the construction of nuclear power plant takes place

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - On 7 July, the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, Uzatom Agency, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and the Jizzakh regional administration organized a media tour to the selected priority site for the construction of nuclear power plant near Lake Tuzonkul in Forish district of Jizzakh Region, as well as public hearings on the prospects for the implementation of a project to build a nuclear power plant.
The event was attended by deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Republic of Uzbekistan, representatives of the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan and the Ecological Movement, journalists, specialists of the Rosatom state corporation Uzatom, responsible officials of the regional hokimiyat, and representatives of the general public.
Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov, First Deputy Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan, General Director of Uzatom, told about the prospects for the construction of nuclear power plants in Uzbekistan.
“The second stage of engineering and exploration work has begun for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan. This site was selected based on a one-year study of all possible sites. It meets a number of criteria that are imposed for the construction of such objects.
First of all, the nuclear power plant will give Uzbekistan a stable production of electricity. This is 18-18.5 billion kWh per year in the construction of two power units. This is the creation of new jobs. During the construction period more than 8 thousand builders will be involved, other related industries, services, transport. Upon completion, more than 2.5 thousand jobs will be created, mainly residents of the area will be attracted.
It is planned to build a nuclear industry town, infrastructure, which will contribute to the development of the region. We have already begun calculations on the road and rail connections,” he commented.
“The NPP project with the reactor installation VVER-1200, proposed by Rosatom to Uzbekistan, was developed taking into account not only Russian federal norms, standards and requirements in the field of atomic energy use, but also includes recommendations of the IAEA, requirements of the European operating organizations (EUR) and the Association of Western European Nuclear Security Regulatory Authority (WENRA). The combination of active and passive safety systems of NPP of the Russian project makes it possible to completely eliminate the probability of release of radiation materials to the external environment, ensuring the stability of the object to any emergency situations. This is the most perfect and safest project in the world, technologies that we successfully tested in Russia, in Novovoronezh, and now we can confidently offer this experience to Uzbekistan,” Andrei Kuchumov, Vice President and First Deputy Director of the Joint Design Institute for Technical Policy IC "ASE" (engineering division of ROSATOM), said.
Alisher Sanitullayev, the head of the National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI" branch in Tashkent, spoke about the importance of training for nuclear energy. He said that the university will accept 100 students in four areas: Nuclear power engineering and thermal physics; nuclear physics and technology; power system and heat engineering; electric power industry and electrical engineering. The goal of the branch is to train highly qualified specialists for the nuclear energy industry, he noted.
It should be noted that in 30 countries of the world there are units of 451 nuclear power plants (NPP). In terms of the number of units used, the developed countries are leading the United States (99), France (58), China (46), Japan (42), Russia (37), South Korea (24), India (22), Canada (19), Ukraine (15), United Kingdom (15). The total amount of electricity produced by NPP used is 11%.

As follows from the above, the nuclear power industry makes a great contribution to the growth of the economies of the countries that own them, an increase in GDP, and the provision of socio-economic sectors with stable, environmentally friendly energy.
As noted, the need of Uzbekistan for electricity amounts to 69 billion kWh per year. However, the existing thermal power plants and hydropower plants produce only 64 billion kilowatts of electricity.
Meanwhile, according to experts, by 2030 in our country the need for electricity will increase by 2 times and the demand will be 117 billion kWh.
Based on the foregoing, without the introduction of new sources of generation, the existing deficit by 2030 will be 48 billion kWh.
From this point of view, the construction of the first NPP in Uzbekistan is considered a promising project.
The construction and commissioning of a nuclear power plant consisting of two power units of the “3+” generation is planned in the republic, each of which has a capacity of 1.2 GW.
In order to meet the needs of the population and the country in electricity, as well as by increasing the energy-generating capacity, and on this basis of a stable energy supply, the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and the introduction of advanced innovative technologies in this direction:
In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated July 19, 2018 No. 5484, the Nuclear Energy Development Agency (hereinafter “Uzatom” Agency) was established under the Ministry of Energy. The Agency “Uzatom” is determined by the government body responsible for the development of a unified state policy and strategic directions for the development and use of nuclear energy.
The construction of a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan allows solving a number of strategically significant issues:
firstly, the NPP will allow additionally introducing 2,400 MW of electricity into the republic’s energy balance. This means 18 billion kWh of capacity per year. That is, nuclear power plants in 2030 will produce 18 percent of the total electricity.
secondly, the construction of nuclear power plants will allow saving 3.5-3.7 billion m3 of natural gas per year, which is raw for thermal power plants, which can be built instead of it. This gas can be exported or deep processed to produce high value-added products (polyethylene, polypropylene, etc.).
thirdly, during the construction of the nuclear power plant more than 8 thousand jobs will be created, and after construction - more than 2.5 thousand jobs. And this in turn will lead to the socio-economic development of the region, the construction of infrastructure facilities. A remarkable fact is that each workplace created at nuclear power plants leads to the creation of 7 more workplaces in other areas. So, 2, 5 thousand jobs at nuclear power plants will lead to the creation of 17,5 thousand jobs in related industries, total - 20 thousand jobs.
fourthly, the introduction of a nuclear power plant with an energy balance prevents up to 14 million tons of carbon dioxide anhydride emissions into the atmosphere and up to 36 thousand tons of harmful greenhouse gases NO2.
Based on the results of research, engineering and economic conclusions, conclusions of foreign researchers, the site next to the Tuzonkul lake in Forish district of Jizzakh region was chosen as the optimal site for the construction of the nuclear power plant.
During the event, experts answered questions from those present in detail.