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The path of ten years long. How Uzbekistan went to his first nuclear power plant
Uzbekistan, Tashkent - AN Podrobno.uz. In 2018, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, together with Vladimir Putin, was pressed to the symbolic button, launching the most ambitious energy project in the entire history of the independence of Uzbekistan - the construction of the first nuclear power plant. But in fact, the history of atomic energy in the republic began much earlier.
The prerequisites for this appeared millions of years ago - it was then, in the Kainozoic era, large deposits of uranium were formed on the territory of Kyzylkum. Uzbekistan could receive its own nuclear power plant in Soviet times, but for obvious reasons this did not happen.
The researchers Kirill Mazuryan and Adibakhon Abdukadyrov told about how the history of the atom developed in the country and what prospects have this area developed and what prospects have developed.
From geology to industry
From 20 to 5 million years ago, in the Kyzykumov region, deposits of uranium were formed - key raw materials for the future nuclear industry of the republic. Its increased content was first recorded in the 1920s in the rocks of the mountains of Kuljuktau and Auminzatau.
This did not cause much interest at that time: radioactivity at that time was already a fashionable topic for discussion, but almost did not know practical use of radioactive elements. They were added only to dyes to use the phenomenon of radioluminescence. Therefore, intelligence in this region was not started.
Everything changed after the Second World War: it became clear what energy significance an atom could have. In 1951, active search work began. In 1952, a unique deposit of Uchkuduk was opened, around which the production of the same name and the city, sung by the Yalla group, unfolded.
Later, other areas rich in uranium were opened, and in 1958 the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Plant and the city of Navoi-as the center of the mining industry of the Uzerschoschsk.
The structure of the NGMK today includes the state -owned enterprise "Navoyuran", engaged in the prey of uranium. In terms of production volumes, Uzbekistan is stably included in the five world leaders, and the total reserves of uranium raw materials in the republic are approximately 100 thousand tons.
Big scope
In 1956, physicist Igor Kurchatov came to Uzbekistan. After his visit, it was decided to create an institution of nuclear physics (IAF) in Tashkent, where three years later a research reactor was launched - the first outside the European part of the USSR and specifically in Central Asia. It is this moment that can be considered the first step to the industrial development of nuclear energy in Uzbekistan.
Reference. Igor Kurchatov is the greatest Soviet scientist and inventor, the creator of the first Soviet atomic bomb.
According to the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR of that time Nuritdin Mukhitdinov, the famous physicist did not expect to find such a scope in Tashkent, the level and interest in the work on the peaceful use of atomic energy. He promised that support would be provided to these works, and invited Tashkent scientists on all issues of the development of these works to contact him.
Also, a cyclotron, gamma-installation, then two specialized enterprises appeared in IAF: Radio Devil (1976) and Tezlatgich (1990), producing radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals. Uzbekistan began to supply products to Germany and other countries, and the spectrum of scientific projects of the institute covered from physics of elementary particles to the analysis of mammoth bones.
Kurchatov`s dream
It was during the aforementioned trip of Kurchatov in the 1950s that the first idea appeared about the construction of nuclear power plants in Uzbekistan. Then he also visited Bukhara - the site for the object was considered near this city.
The second stage of discussion came in the 1980s, when experts drew attention to 70 other potential sites throughout the country. However, against the backdrop of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the project was abandoned. Again, they paid attention to him in 2001, but this did not lead to anything.
Only in 2017, the case began to move off the ground: Uzbekistan and Russia entered into an agreement on cooperation in the field of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, and in 2018 on the construction of nuclear power plants.
For the development of atomic energy in the country, the Uzatom agency was subsequently founded, and for the training of specialists, the Tashkent branch of the National Nuclear University of MEPhI was opened.
The list of potential sites was then reduced to 14, but, in the end, the choice fell into the territory near Lake Tuzkan in the Dzhak region - seismically stable and safe. There are no active faults on the selected site, and geological conditions fully comply with international standards.
Uzbekistan has no experience in operating nuclear power plants, therefore, at the initial stage of the development of nuclear energy, it is planned to build a low -power power plant. It will be equipped with six Russian reactors with a total capacity of 330 megavatts. In the future, it is possible to build another station near the same site, but using more power reactors.
The main contractor of the project is the State Corporation "Rosatom", but this does not exclude the attracting of other countries. For example, it is already known that the Hungarian MVM EGI will supply dry cooling systems for the Uzbek nuclear power plant, and the French Assystem will be engaged in technical support for the project. Also in the spring, the Uzatom delegation visited China to discuss the possible involvement of Chinese financing and Chinese companies in the construction of nuclear power plants.
Construction work at the site of the future power plant started in April 2025. In May, Rosatom began the manufacture of equipment for it.
Atom in the era of climate
Atomic energy is an important element in the "green" agenda of Uzbekistan. NPPs do not throw carbon dioxide and allow you to abandon part of fossil fuel. This is especially true in the context of the Paris Agreement, which the Republic ratified in 2017, and the plan to bring the share of renewable energy sources to 54 % by 2030.
The prospects of atomic energy as a tool for combating climate change are realized not only in Uzbekistan. It is enough to look at the top 10 countries in terms of oil production according to OPEC data. It is striking that most countries from this list already have existing atomic power plants - some of them relatively recently, such as Iran (the first nuclear power plant in the Middle East) or the UAE (the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world). Those who have not yet have a nuclear power plant, or are already developing plans for its construction, or consider this opportunity. This confirms the global trend: even the largest manufacturers of fossil fuel are increasingly turning to the “peaceful atom” as an important element of the stable energy of the future. What can I say, even if Japan is a country that, after an accident at Fukushima, stopped all its nuclear stations by 2012 - since 2015 it began to gradually launch nuclear reactors.
However, unlike Japan, Uzbekistan has its own uranium deposits, which gives the country an additional advantage in strengthening energy security and independence. This is important against the background of a rapidly changing world and growing geopolitical turbulence.
And, if earlier Uzbekistan was surrounded by countries without atomic energy, now it can become a pioneer in Central Asia. And behind it, the nuclear power plants will probably be pulled up by other Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan has already determined technology suppliers for its station, and in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan they study the possibility of building. But it was Uzbekistan, thanks to its history, a resource base and a scientific school, who is ready to set a tone on the atomic agenda of the region.
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