Kazakhstan's agreement with Russia for the construction of its first nuclear power plant will help solidify Moscow's long-term geopolitical foothold in the country, but Astana will seek to hedge this dependency by engaging China on future projects and leveraging new mining regulations to extract downstream nuclear technology from foreign partners. On April 21, Kazakhstan's Atomic Energy Agency chairman Almasadam Satkaliyev said the agency was working on a deal in which Russia would provide an interstate loan covering 85% of the roughly $15 billion cost of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant, with Kazakhstan covering the remaining 15%. Rosatom, Russia's state-owned nuclear corporation, will build the plant near Ulken on Lake Balkhash in southeastern Kazakhstan. The project envisions a two-reactor facility with a total capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, with commissioning targeted for 2035-36. Once signed, the financing and construction agreements will build on Rosatom's existing mining presence in Kazakhstan's uranium sector through...
