The Kazakh atomic energy agency called Rosatom’s proposal “the most optimal and beneficial.” Work has already begun on securing Russian state export financing.
Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev confirmed the company’s participation.
The plant will be built in the village of Ulken, approximately 400 kilometers northwest of Almaty - the country's largest city. China's CNNC has not yet commented on the collaboration.
Although Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest producers of uranium, the country largely depends on coal-fired power plants and, to a lesser extent, hydroelectric and renewable energy. It has had no nuclear generation since 1999, when the BN-350 reactor on the Caspian Sea coast was decommissioned.
Kazakhstan partially imports electricity from Russia. According to the Kazakh government, building a single nuclear power plant will cost around $12 billion.
It was previously reported that Rosatom is also building not only a small nuclear plant in Uzbekistan but a large-scale facility as well.
In May 2025, Rosatom filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court against Finnish companies Fortum and Outokumpu Corporation, seeking 227.8 billion rubles ($2.56 billion) in damages over the termination of the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant (located on the Finnish Hanhikivi peninsula) project.