Baku, Azerbaijan, May 30
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
A delegation of the Russian Rosatom state corporation is currently on a visit to Uzbekistan to discuss further development of cooperation in the sphere of peaceful use of nuclear energy, Sputnik Uzbekistan reported referring to Russian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Vladimir Tyurdenev.
The Russian ambassador said that Uzbekistan and Russia are continuing to work on an agreement on construction of a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan.
Reportedly, the Russian delegation is headed by General Director of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, who will have an official meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
In the mid-April, during the opening of the Kandym gas processing complex, the president of Uzbekistan said that the agreement on the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the region would be signed with Russia before the end of 2018.
The Russian side proposes to build a station consisting of two modern VVER-1200 units of 3+ generation. The project for the construction of a similar station, which Rosatom is currently building in Bangladesh, is estimated at about $13 billion, $11.3 billion of which are provided by Russia as a state export credit.
Russia is also ready to offer Uzbekistan several options for financing of the project, including a state loan, as well as the BOO (Build-Own-Operate) scheme.
At the end of 2017, the governments of Uzbekistan and Russia signed an agreement on cooperation in the sphere of peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement provides for the formation of joint working groups to carry out specific projects and research, as well as the exchange of experts, organization of workshops and symposiums.
Among the promising areas of bilateral cooperation are training of specialists for nuclear power industry in Uzbekistan, construction of nuclear power plants and research reactors, exploration and development of uranium deposits, reclamation of uranium tailing dumps, production of radioisotopes and their use in industry, medicine and agriculture, and other fundamental scientific research.
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