How safe is the construction of Rosatom nuclear power plants in Uzbekistan?

The Russian state-owned company Rosatom is actively promoting the contract with Uzbekistan for the construction of a nuclear power plant near Lake Tuzkan in the Jizzakh region. 

Rosatom, the sanctions against which is being actively discussed in the European Union nowadays, plans to build a complex of two power units with VVER-1200 reactors in Uzbekistan. 

“Work on the contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan is in the final stage,” Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said in November 2023 in Moscow.

“I think we are not far from signing the contract,”  he added.

According to him, Rosatom carried out a number of survey work at the site, gave additional proposals for low power.

In December 2017, the Governments of Russia and Uzbekistan signed an agreement on the peaceful use of atomic energy. In September 2018, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of a Russian-designed nuclear power plant in the republic was signed.

Nevertheless, local and foreign experts are actively discussing the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan.

The danger of the project lies in the fact that through the construction of nuclear power plants Russia not only seeks to control the nuclear power industry in Central Asia, but also that insufficient risk assessment can lead to an environmental disaster in the entire region.

This is an important point not only for Uzbekistan with a population of 30 million, but also for Kazakhstan, which is also considering options for building a nuclear power plant on its territory. 

The proposed Rosatom project is located in an earthquake-prone region, which has experienced 230 earthquakes of magnitude 4 and higher within a radius of 186 miles over the past decade. On average, this is about one earthquake every 15 days.

The Uzbek nuclear power plant will also need more water for cooling, which will exacerbate regional water use problems.

Due to the current climate changes, the problems of regulating and filling water bodies will only worsen in the future. Especially in Central Asia, the population is actively growing and the region is facing frequent droughts.

Experts said that Lake Tuzkan does not have the volume of water needed to cool nuclear reactors.

In addition, do not forget that a nuclear reactor can become the target of terrorist attacks by radical Islamists groups gaining strength in neighboring Afghanistan. 

In this regard, it is important for the European Union to quickly and actively promote “green technologies” in Central Asia in order to avoid potential risks of the region becoming dependent on Russia, but also to preserve the climatic conditions of Central Asia.

An alternative to the Russian VVER-1200 reactors may be “small modular reactors” (SMR). Small reactors are characterised by safety, earthquake resistance and low water consumption. 

For example, Hyundai Engineering Co. of South Korea is exploring the possibility of building a small nuclear power plant using a modular advanced reactor (SMART) integrated into the system in Uzbekistan.

These models can produce up to 110 MW of energy, while being ten times smaller than conventional reactors. Moreover, due to its compactness, SMART reactors can be built in remote and mountainous areas.

At the same time, France, which has significant experience and technology in this industry, is ready and able to solve the energy problems of Uzbekistan. 

At this stage, Paris is promoting SMR technologies within the European Union as part of the decarbonisation of the European economy. At the end of last year, France proposed to the European Commission to “create an industrial alliance” based on small model reactors. 

The introduction of French technologies in Uzbekistan would be a mutually beneficial option for cooperation for both Europeans and Tashkent. 

Nevertheless, Russia’s nuclear energy diplomacy in Central Asia is guided by geopolitical goals and neglects the potential dangers associated with the strategic Uzbek project. 

The Russian project also faces problems related to weak public oversight and the unwillingness of the Uzbek authorities to interact with citizens, which undermines the safety of the station.

In addition, the IAEA called on the Government of Uzbekistan to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the environmental risks of the impact on the oasis of Uzbekistan, Lake Tuzkan.

In this context, experts believe that the European Union needs to actively join the energy agenda of the region, both by promoting its “green energy” technologies and by offering options for “small modular reactors”.

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Read also: High stakes of NPP construction in Uzbekistan, by Kausar Arykhanovna

The idea of Uzbekistan building a nuclear power plant together with a warring Russia could arouse distrust in Western Europe and the United States, completely spoil the current favourable investment climate and lay an internal political time bomb in this Central Asian republic.

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