Uzbekistan SMR project sees start of auxiliary buildings construction
Preparatory work on the buildings required to support construction and administration of the planned small modular reactor project in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan has begun.
The construction and assembly facilities will include administrative and industrial buildings for the entire period of the project, and will include warehousing and large-scale assembly shops.
The contract signed in May 2024, during a visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is for the construction of a 330 MW capacity nuclear power plant. The project is based on six units of the RITM-200N water-cooled reactor, which is adapted from nuclear-powered icebreakers' technology, with thermal power of 190 MW or 55 MWe and with an intended service life of 60 years. The first unit is scheduled to go critical in late 2029 with units commissioned one by one.
It was the first export order for Russia's SMR. The first land-based version is currently being built in Yakut in Russia, with the launch of the first unit scheduled to take place in 2027. Rosatom says that its combination of active and passive safety systems mean the SMR plants will achieve the highest possible safety standards.
Pavel Bezrukov, Vice President and Director of the NPP Construction Project in the Republic of Uzbekistan at Atomstroyexport JSC, said: "Currently, the Engineering Division of Rosatom continues to work on preparing documentation for [plants] with RITM-200N reactor units, the latest development, which is based on many years of experience in operating Russian-designed reactors. The ... project will provide Uzbekistan with a guaranteed volume of electricity for decades to come and will lay a reliable foundation for the development of the nuclear industry in the entire region."
Otabek Amanov, Deputy Director of the Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction, said the SMR plant "based on time-tested technologies and experience of trouble-free operation, will become a reliable source of environmentally friendly energy. Compactness, the highest level of safety and efficiency make RITM-200N an ideal solution for the sustainable development of the region's energy sector".
In 2017, Uzbekistan signed an agreement with Russia to construct two VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors and separate proposals remain for building a large nuclear power plant with a capacity of around 2.5 GW.
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