Kazakhstan plans referendum on nuclear power plant construction

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to hold a national referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the country. He believes such a decision is correct because of the consequences of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. In the village of Kainar, which is located next to the test site, 396 people died of cancer during the tests.

"In 2019, in my election platform, I promised that decisions on the most important strategic problems will be made through referendums. The construction or refusal to build a nuclear power plant is an extremely important issue concerning the future of our country. Therefore, I propose to put it to a national referendum. We will decide on the specific terms later," Tokayev said during the session of the Parliament, Kazinform reports.

Kazakh leader noted that the development of nuclear energy has become an important economic and political issue. "On the one hand, Kazakhstan as the largest uranium producer in the world should have its own nuclear generation. On the other hand, many citizens and a number of experts have concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants," he added.

The Semipalatinsk test site is the first and one of the largest nuclear test sites in the USSR. The first nuclear weapon test in the Soviet Union was conducted there in 1949. The power of the bomb was 22 kilotons. On October 11, 1961, the Semipalatinsk test site was the first in the USSR to conduct nuclear tests by underground explosion. In total, more than 460 nuclear tests were conducted at the test site during its operation.

For nuclear experiments, 18.5 thousand square kilometres of land were allocated, which were located on the territories of Semipalatinsk, Pavlodar, and Karaganda regions. The last atomic explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site took place on October 19, 1989. On August 2, 1991, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was closed by decree of the then President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.