Kazakhstan holds referendum on building its first nuclear power plant

A referendum on whether the Central Asian country should build its first nuclear power plant began this morning in Kazakhstan. Polling stations will close at 20:00 local time (17:00 CEST), news website Nur.kz reported. It added that, after the votes are counted, the regions will have two days to submit the results to the central commission, which is to announce the referendum results within seven days. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest uranium producer. However, building a nuclear power plant is a sensitive issue in a country that was once home to the main Soviet nuclear test site.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced plans to hold a referendum a year ago, saying the date would be set later. „Every decision of importance to the country must have the support of the people,“ the president said last month when he announced the date of the referendum on the nuclear power plant. Kazakhstan urgently needs reliable, environmentally friendly energy sources, the president said, adding that he believes the country must therefore focus on developing nuclear energy.

During the Soviet era, Kazakhstan was home to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, where hundreds of nuclear weapons tests were carried out from 1949 until the site was closed in 1991. Experts estimate that around 1.5 million people were exposed to elevated levels of radiation as a result of the tests, according to earlier reports by AFP.

Kazakhstan is a vast country, much larger than Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain combined. The year before last, it accounted for 43 percent of global uranium production. Despite reforms, the regime remains authoritarian, and the president’s proposals usually become reality. The country’s previous three referendums merely confirmed political decisions that had already been made, AFP noted in September last year, when the head of state announced his intention to hold a referendum on a nuclear power plant.

For the referendum to be valid, more than half of the over 12 million eligible voters must participate, news website Tengrinews reported, noting that voters can also cast their ballots abroad, at 74 polling stations in 59 countries.

The Czech Republic is now planning to build two more units at the nuclear power plant in Dukovany, with the first expected to be completed in 2036. South Korean company KHNP will be the supplier, having been chosen by the Czech government over France’s EDF in the tender. Czechia currently operates six nuclear reactors: four at Dukovany and two at Temelín.