Since July 18, the Kazakhstan delegation has been in France to get acquainted with the experience of the Republic in the construction and operation of nuclear power plants and development of nuclear energy. The delegation includes representatives of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants LLP, the National Nuclear Center, KEGOC JSC and KazAtomProm JSC, experts in the nuclear and energy industries. 

Within the framework of the visit, meetings were held at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy of France, negotiations were also held with the French operator of the NPP - Eléctricité de France. A separate meeting was held with Mr. Olivier Becht, the Minister-Delegate for Foreign Trade, Economic Attractiveness and French Affairs Abroad under the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. 

During the negotiations, the models of financing nuclear projects were studied in detail, both with the involvement of public funds and provision of state guarantees, as well as the experience of attracting private investment in these projects. 

The delegation also visited the Flamanville NPP. The station is located on the shore of the English Channel, 23 km southwest of the city of Cherbourg.

The NPP consists of two power units, which are equipped with pressurized water reactors (PWR) P4 developed by Framatome. The electrical capacity of a single unit is 1300 MW. Flamanville NPP generates about 4% of all electricity consumed in France.

As Zhandos Nurmaganbetov, the Vice-Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, noted at the meeting with the Ministry of Energy of France, Kazakhstan had embarked on carbon neutrality, work is underway to approve a low-carbon Development Strategy until 2035, which provides for measures for deep decarbonization. The construction of a nuclear power plant will help solve not only the issues of the impending shortage of electricity, but also, along with RES, will contribute to the development of low-carbon generation in the country.
In turn, Mr. Laurent Michel, the Head of the General Directorate of Energy and Climate (DGEC) of the Ministry of Energy of France, said the following: “France welcomes Kazakhstan’s desire to “green up” Kazakhstan’s energy sector and is aimed at long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation in this industry”.

France’s experience in the development of nuclear power plants can be called one of the widest in the world, since today France ranks 2nd in the world (after the USA) in the number of nuclear reactors: 69% of the country’s electricity is generated at nuclear power plants. France is also the world’s largest net exporter of electricity and receives more than €3 billion a year.

Currently, France has announced a program of renewal and modernization of the nuclear industry. The capacities of existing French nuclear power plants are gradually wearing out, on average, every third nuclear reactor has been in operation for 40 years or more. Therefore, a program for the construction of new nuclear reactors has been launched in the country, within the framework of which a decision was made to build 6 new nuclear reactors, and the possibility of building 8 more is under consideration. Plans for the construction of new EPR2 generation reactors should be submitted in 2023, with subsequent commissioning in 2035-2037. 

It was also announced that France will allocate €1 billion for the creation of innovative small modular reactors and reactors with a closed fuel cycle.

Kazakhstan is studying proposals from the world’s leading companies for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the country. The project organization of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund - Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants JSC together with the Ministry of Energy, conducts an analysis of potential technologies.

At the moment, a shortlist of four suppliers with time-tested high-power reactor technologies with operational experience has been compiled. It includes Korean KHNP, Chinese CNNC, Russian Rosatom and French EDF.