From Aktau to Angarsk

Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbaev have entrusted interested agencies with a task to explore by the summer of 2008 the issue of constructing a nuclear power plant in Aktau. The principal agreement between Moscow and Astana on this issue had been already achieved. The State Corporation "Rosatom" considers Kazakhstan a strategic partner in the nuclear sector and believes that "integration will help us strengthen our positions on the world market".

First practical steps on the way of realization of the joint project of two brotherly republics were made in October 2006, when Russian company "Atomstroyexport" and the Kazakh NAK (National Atomic Corporation) "Kazatomprom" established on equal terms a joint venture named KRKAS corporation. The main task of the new company was to develop and promote innovation projects of power generating units with low- and medium-power nuclear reactors on the markets of Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries.

The nuclear water-cooled reactor VBER-300 was chosen as the basic option for the future joint power units of the country. It is a conversion project that uses Russian submarine technologies and provides generation of up to 290 Megawatt of electricity or 200 Megawatt (el.) and 460 Gcal./h. of heat . Construction of the first two VBER-300 units was assumed to start in 2007, but because of some financial and legislative problems the construction was postponed approximately for two years.

Muhtar Djakishev, president of "Kazatomprom", believes that a new nuclear power plant in Aktay will inure to benefit of the western regions of the republic. In his opinion, Russian technologies have a number of important advantages. For example, the VBER-300 reactor can be completely manufactured in the fabrication plant conditions and then transported to Aktau by sea and installed at the site of Mangishlack energy plant.

Cooperation between Moscow and Astana doesn't confine itself to the nuclear reactor technologies. At the end of 2006 the first tons of uranium concentrate were produced at the uranium mining factory "Zarechnoe". The uranium mine, that is situated deep in the Kyzyl Kum desert and behind the Syr Darya river (that gave the name of the mine), was found and suspended in the USSR times.

Nowadays new technologies have made uranium mining at the "Zarechnoe" factory profitable. By their joint effort Russia and Kazakhstan with insignificant participation of Kyrgyzstan managed to build a modern factory there in a few years. In the summer of 2006 a long-term contract was singed for the delivery of Kazakh uranium to Russia. Besides that the contract also covers two large uranium mines that are going to be developed together by Russia and Kazakhstan - "Uzhnoe Zarechnoe" and "Budenovskoe".

The largest state in Central Asia has a principled stand that is taken into consideration in Moscow. Kazakhstan is strictly against turning itself into the source of rough materials for foreign states. In exchange for the uranium concentrate Russia offers Kazakh nuclear scientists not only money, but also an access to the technologies - as in case of VBER-300 - and to new interesting projects. It was Kazakhstan that gained an honorable role of the second participant (after Russia) in the International uranium enrichment center in Angarsk.

Personnel will benefit the nuclear friendship

But the recovering economic and technological relations between two former Soviet republics are being seriously threatened. In the summer of 2007 President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev accepted the offer of George Bush's administration to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the sphere of nuclear energy.

Kazakhstan bought 10% share of the American company "Westinghouse", having promised to reduce or even to stop uranium ore export by 2014 in return. Sincem that time the Kazakh uranium will have been used mainly for the needs of fuel assemblies fabrication, served by Americans.

Curiously enough, the technicality of the agreement is slightly covered by the western press. Most American experts prefer covering only political aspects, stressing the so-called Astana's economic policy diversification and overcoming a certain "Russian bias" in Kazakh foreign policy.

Thus, Greck Vodgack from the law company "Bracewell & Giuliani", that is doing business in Central Asia, called the fact of purchasing the "Westinghouse" shares by Astana an indication of maturing of Kazakh companies that started searching for nuclear partners outside Russia: "President Nasarbaev has made a good job, balancing between East and West. Using resources of his country, he strives for obtaining better results for Kazakhstan".

In favor of the deal with Kazakhstan ther came out Professor Frederick Star from the Institute of Central Asia and Caucasus under John Hopkins University having written an entire column in "Washington Post". And a number of oversea experts in political sciences promptly held up Kazakhstan as an example for Ukraine, calling Kiev to follow the example of Astana to get rid of "economic dependence on Russia".

One can agree with the opinion of western observes in this special case. Rapprochement of Astana and Washington has, mostly, a political nature and will have a negative impact on the pace of development of Russian nuclear sector. Our country is sorely in need of uranium, and a potential freeze of its deliveries from Kazakhstan will make Russians bogged down in expensive and laborious development of remote uranium mines in Eastern Siberia.

No doubt, independent Kazakhstan has a full right to make any alliance and sign any treaties with foreign companies, including "Westinghouse". Moscow will have to think over the way of convincing Astana not to refuse from nuclear cooperation with Russia.

Profitable economic relations are the cornerstone of the Kazakh-Russian cooperation. Supplying uranium for Russian nuclear power plants, Kazakh nuclear specialists have a right to hope to receive from us something more than just money in return. One of such ways of a fair exchange was mentioned in the first part of the article. i.e. transfer of Russian VBER-300 reactor technologies to Kazakhstan.

Another important direction of cooperation, where Russia can be of a great help for its Central Asian neighbors, is personnel training for the nuclear energy sector.

The personnel issue in the sphere of hi-tech has become extremely critical in modern Kazakhstan. "Today we are facing the situation, when in the backbone industries that create science intensive technologies there exists the lack of high qualified personnel", - says, in particular, Director of Institute for history and ethnology Kamal Burkhanov. According to the data published by the scientific and technical information center of Kazakh Republic over the last years there was not a single defense of a thesis in a number of groups of specialties, power engineering including.

Nuclear energy agencies of both countries might explore the positive experience of their colleges from the aerospace sector. Overcoming the lack of personnel for the own program of constructing artificial Earth satellites, Kazakhstan requested Russia to provide the access for the Kazakh students to training in aerospace specialties. It is safe to say that assistance in training specialists will be a weighty argument in behalf of Russia in all the negotiations about the maintenance of our presence at the launch site of Baikonur.

In the legendary "Sredmash" (medium-scale engineering industry of the Soviet Union) times the personnel for the nuclear sector of Kazakh Soviet Socialistic Republic was brought up in special Russian institutes, such as Tomsk Polytechnic University. Coming back to the Soviet praxis will benefit nuclear scientists and contribute to the friendly relations between our countries.

SOURCE: Vladimir Rychin, AtomInfo.Ru

DATE: March 16, 2008

Topics: NFC, Kazakhstan, Russia