“The offer was cheaper”: China to build Kazakhstan’s second nuclear power plant

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) will lead the consortium to build Kazakhstan’s second nuclear power plant, according to a report by the national portal “Adyrna.” Chairman of the Atomic Energy Agency, Almasadam Satkaliyev, stated that all foreign companies participating in the preliminary selection process had proposed their own unique technologies. However, the most competitive offers came from China and Russia. “A separate cooperation agreement in the nuclear field is planned to be signed with China. We want to utilize China’s modern technologies to build another nuclear power plant in our country. China is one of the few countries that has mastered the full nuclear fuel cycle and possesses the necessary industrial base,” said Satkaliyev. According to him, China’s proposal for building the plant was twice as cheap as that of Russia. Satkaliyev also emphasized that the negotiations were held at a high level and that China has the experience to carry out construction quickly and with high quality. “We have already begun work in this direction. The Agency must also form efficient consortiums,” he added. For context, it was previously announced that the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant would be carried out by Russia’s Rosatom.