As a one-day international conference on nuclear energy takes place, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that the country is to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to expand cooperation on nuclear energy development. Uzbekistan's national atomic agency Uzatom and World Nuclear Association have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote bilateral cooperation.

The signature of a protocol by UzAtom's Directorate for Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant and JSC Atomstroyexport - the engineering division of Russia's Rosatom - means work can begin at the site of Uzbekistan's first nuclear power plant.

Infrastructure work for a six-unit small modular reactor nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan is expected to begin in the autumn, after the signing of a protocol on the entry into force of the construction contract signed last month.

An agreement between Uzbekistan and Russia will see a six-unit small modular reactor nuclear power plant built in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan, with construction work due to begin as early as this summer.

France and Kazakhstan have pledged cooperation on minerals and the nuclear fuel cycle, while in Uzbekistan there was agreement to raise the level of bilateral relations, during official visits by President Emmanuel Macron this week. The French president was accompanied by a large delegation including representatives from French industry.

Remediation work at legacy uranium mining sites in Uzbekistan is under way, bolstered by a EUR9 million (USD11 million) grant from the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia set up on the initiative of the European Union and managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded a five-day Site and External Events Design mission to Uzbekistan, which plans to build its first nuclear power plant in the southeast of the country.

A newly signed tripartite agreement broadens the scope of the collaboration between Orano Mining and its Uzbek partners and lays the foundations for the development of new uranium mines in Uzbekistan.

Environmental remediation of former uranium mining sites at Yangiabad and Charkesar in Uzbekistan is set to begin following the signing of a EUR7 million (USD7 million) grant agreement between the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia and the Uzbek government.