Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched on Friday a project to construct Uzbekistan's first nuclear power plant (NPP) based on a Russian design and participated in a ceremony of the construction works' beginning via video link from Tashkent, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said in a press release.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched on Friday a project to construct Uzbekistan's first nuclear power plant (NPP) based on a Russian design and participated in a ceremony of the construction works' beginning via video link from Tashkent, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said in a press release.
The event marked the start of the engineering studies to choose the site for the construction of the future NPP.
"On October 19, 2018 a solemn ceremony was held in Uzbekistan to celebrate the launch of the first NPP construction project in Uzbekistan. The event marked the beginning of investigation studies to select the construction site for the future NPP. The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, who was in Uzbekistan with a state visit, joined the event by way of a videoconference from Tashkent," the press release said.
As part of the event, a memorandum of cooperation in education and training of staff in the field of nuclear energy was signed by Rosatom, the academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Uzatom agency for the development of atomic energy operating under the Uzbek government.
In addition, a memorandum of understanding on forming a positive public opinion about nuclear energy in Uzbekistan was signed by the representatives of the two countries. Within the framework of the document, the two parties are expected to carry out activities aimed at popularization of nuclear energy in the country and increasing the awareness of the country's population of the modern nuclear energy technologies, to hold thematic conferences and to educate national media workers.
The NPP project provides for the construction of two power units equipped with the 3+ generation VVER-1200 reactors, which are fully in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety requirements. The estimated cost of the NPP construction will be about $11 billion.
