Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — In one year, the first concrete for the future small-capacity nuclear power plant will be poured in the Jizzakh region. This was announced by Alexey Likhachev, the CEO of the State Corporation "Rosatom," in an interview with TASS.

According to him, all legal matters for the start of construction have already been settled. Now, the project work needs to be completed, the necessary licenses obtained, and the foundation laid. Likhachev emphasized that when the leadership of Uzbekistan returns to the large nuclear power plant project, "Rosatom" will be ready to offer specific solutions on technological, financial, and organizational issues, including localization of production in the country.

The small nuclear power plant project will be implemented in the format of international cooperation, utilizing the best practices in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. However, nuclear technologies and the reactor island will remain Russian-made.

On 28 April, during the International Industrial Exhibition "INNOPROM. Central Asia" in Tashkent, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, met with Alexey Likhachev. The sides noted the active development of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and discussed the application of nuclear technologies in agriculture and medicine, as well as personnel training at the Tashkent branch of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI).

It is worth recalling that in May 2024, the companies "Uzatom" and "Rosatom" signed a contract for the construction of the small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan. The project is based on the development of a water-water reactor RITM-200N — an adapted version of a marine reactor for land-based installation. The thermal capacity of the reactor is 190 MW, the electrical capacity is 55 MW, and the service life is up to 60 years.