Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told during a press conference in Tashkent that the area for the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Uzbekistan with the participation of the Russian Federation was determined, Trend reports with reference to RIA Novosti.
“Regarding nuclear power plant, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed satisfaction with the development of the project today. He said that he had been able to agree on the site. This was an important phase in the work. Regular consultations will take place in the near future with the management of Rosatom and colleagues from relevant Uzbek structure. The project is "on the move," ” Lavrov said during a conversation with journalists in Tashkent.
Earlier, Trend reported that in early September 2018, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plants in the country. Rosatom is planning to build a complex of two generation 3+ power units with Water Power Reactor-1200 units, which meet all the safety requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agreement entered into force at the end of October.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyev on February 8 approved the concept of developing nuclear energy in the country for 2019-2029. It aims to build and start safe operations of nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 2.4 GW by 2030. Construction of the station is scheduled to begin in 2022 with the involvement of a loan from the Russian government.
The construction of the country's first nuclear power plant will be divided into three phases. During the first phase, in 2019-2020, the site for the construction of NPP will be determined. A feasibility study of the project shall be developed in 2020-2021 and the construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in 2022.
It is planned that after the launch of two power units with a capacity of 1.2 GW each, the station will annually produce 18.9 billion kWh. As expected, 2,700 jobs will be created including over 1,900 new job places at the station itself. The project will be financed at the expense of own funds of Uzbekistan and the state loan of Russia.
An EPC contract (engineering, procurement and construction) will be signed with Rosatom, which is the main contractor of the project.
In addition, Vnesheconombank of Russia will advise on determining the optimal financing structure for the NPP construction project, arrange its financing and provide guarantees.
After the commissioning of the plant, Uzbekistan will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere to 14 million tons and nitrogen oxides by 36,000 tons. With the start of the station operations, Uzbekistan will annually save 3.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The country will receive $550-600 million a year, if it exports this volume of gas even without processing it.
By 2030, this NPP can provide about 15 percent of the country's electricity needs.
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