Saturday 21 / September / 2024
Muscat: Kazakhstan is just a step away from reducing harmful carbon emission and achieving cleaner environment as it prepares to hold a National Referendum on the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said that the referendum, which is scheduled on October 6, is a clear concept of creating the ‘Listening State’ aimed at taking the approval of his compatriots. In a traditional Address to the Nation, President Tokayev explained that there is a need for nuclear power as there is a growing global energy deficit while at the same time the country is in demand for a reliable clean energy sources.
Kazakhstan has long discussed the topic, emphasising the need for new power generation capacity, and even identified a planned location for the facility in the southeastern Almaty region and mentioned several potential partners from countries such as China, Russia, South Korea and France. If the country decides to go ahead with the project, it will be well on its way to build its first nuclear power plant.
Currently, Kazakhstan’s power sector is at a point where the state is looking to diversify its energy sector and cut down on carbon emissions. Nuclear power is seen as the first step to solve existing challenges for clean energy.
Since the country has abundant oil and natural gas reserves, there is a genuine need to develop other energy sources to power its economic growth. As long as President Tokayev is ready to reassure his people that the government is committed to developing its nuclear energy in a smooth and safe way, then it is worth a shot to go ahead with it.
Currently, nearly 80 percent of electricity in Kazakhstan is generated by burning coal, another 15 percent is produced by hydropower, and the rest comes from renewable energy sources. Adding nuclear power to the current energy mix will certainly be a way forward for future development of the country.
On the bright side, Kazakhstan is not new to nuclear power. In August 2015, it has signed the agreement to establish the International Atomic Agency’s Bank of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU). It has already been viewed as an historical step that will have a far reaching impact to strengthen Kazakhstan’s strong commitment to Global Peace and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
On top of all that, Kazakhstan is the biggest producer of natural uranium with many countries around the world are queuing up on regular basis as customers.
In conclusion, the October 6 Referendum is a way forward for Kazakhstan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and increase the role of renewables. Fossils and coal fuel are never reliable as they pollute the environment on regular basis and always pose as a problem to the health of citizens.
On its role as one of the world’s largest sources of uranium, Kazakhstan needs to finally take a lead role in the development of nuclear power by taking the center stage in nuclear energy development.
President Tokayev is very much justified in calling for the Referendum that will finally put the country in the global energy map, not only as the top producer of uranium, but as a leading producer of clean energy in Central Asia.
