Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy company, is in dialogue with the Kyrgyz authorities on the potential of creating the nation’s first nuclear power plant in northern Kyrgyzstan. The talks are a crucial development step towards fulfillment of Kyrgyzstan’s challenge to diversify its sources of electric power and decrease its dominant dependence on hydropower—it supplies about 90% of the electricity in the country.

Kyrgyzstan has suffered a short power supply, which includes some recurrences of energy crises, especially in the winter period when the reservoir levels are down, making power production to be affected. For this reason, the establishment of the proposed nuclear plant will be viewed as the long-term vision of the country to have a balanced energy mix for the supply of power. According to Kyrgyz Energy Minister Talaibek Ibraev, “Nuclear energy gives us an assurance of an efficient and eco-friendly way of managing energy problems.”

The construction of this power plant was recently announced with the significant information that Russia’s Rosatom, a recognized world’s leader in building nuclear energy-generating facilities, has shown the readiness to both supply equipment and knowledge for this venture. When implemented, the plant will be able to produce 1000 MW of electricity, which will be additional to Kyrgyzstan’s power generation. According to a Rosatom representative, Kyrgyzstan has promising conditions for fostering nuclear energy. The project would also complement a change of the energy mix for Kyrgyzstan that the Kyrgyz government wished to undertake, in line with its energy strategy for the year 2030. However, issues of environment and safety have been a cause of concern, with some analysts stressing the issues of the need for strong policy framework work and management of risks before attempting to take the nuclear energy option.