US And Kazakhstan Announce Nuclear Energy Deal

(Eurasianet) -- While Kazakhstan has big plans to develop its nuclear power capacity, the United States is helping Astana think small.

The US government has agreed to help train Kazakh specialists in the operation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), according to a statement issued December 22 by the US Embassy in Astana. The first phase of the cooperation deal involves the supply of an SMR simulator to Kazakhstan’s Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty. 

At the same time, a US energy company, Sargent & Lundy, will carry out a feasibility study for the construction of SMRs in Kazakhstan. “This study will identify a shortlist of US SMR options suitable for deployment at potential sites in Kazakhstan,” according to the embassy statement.

Kazakhstan currently has agreements in place with Russia and China to build large-scale reactors. Astana has not previously announced an intention to construct SMRs. But the US statement pointedly mentions that the supply of an SMR simulator is a precursor to US involvement in building SMR units in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are also intent on developing nuclear energy. 

“The simulator will serve as a regional training hub to facilitate safe and secure SMR deployment across Central Asia,” the statement notes. “This new facility is a critical step in developing the workforce to expedite US SMR deployment.”

SMRs have a per-unit generating capacity of about 300 megawatts per year, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). That is roughly one-third the annual generating capability of large-scale reactors. The main advantage of SMRs is they are cheaper and faster to build, given their modular specifications. SMRs also can be situated in places that are unsuitable for large-scale reactors, especially remote and sparsely populated areas.

“In areas lacking sufficient lines of transmission and grid capacity, SMRs can be installed into an existing grid or remotely off-grid, as a function of its smaller electrical output, providing low-carbon power for industry and the population,” according to an IAEA assessment of SMRs.

SMRs also tend to be safer to operate given their reliance on passive systems and comparatively low fuel requirements, the IAEA adds. “Passive systems rely on physical phenomena, such as natural circulation, convection, gravity and self-pressurization,” the assessment states. “These increased safety margins, in some cases, eliminate or significantly lower the potential for unsafe releases of radioactivity to the environment and the public in case of an accident.”

SMRs would seem ideally suited for helping Kazakhstan fulfill a plan announced by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in September to turn the country into a high-tech innovation hub, driven by the construction of data centers. The plan requires a sizeable increase in power-generating capacity at a time when Kazakhstan is already grappling with an electricity deficit.

In opting to explore the construction of SMRs at this point in time, Kazakhstan may also be expressing doubt that Russia’s nuclear energy entity, Rosatom, can meet the projected timeline to build large-scale VVER-1000 reactors in the country. Those reactors are tentatively slated for completion in the mid-2030s. Given Kazakhstan’s ambitious economic development agenda, officials in Astana are growing increasingly eager to start bringing nuclear power plants on line sooner, rather than later.