Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants to be transferred to state ownership, placed under Atomic Energy Agency

ALMATY. July 17 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants LLP (KNPP), which will handle the construction and management of domestic nuclear power plants, will be transferred to state ownership, the Atomic Energy Agency's press service said.

The transfer should speed up construction of the plants. KNPP is currently owned by Samruk-Kazyna, but it will pass to the agency.

"Preparations are underway to transfer the equity stake in KNPP LLP to republican ownership, subsequently vesting the Agency with rights of possession and use," the press service said.

As previously reported, technical supervision for NPP construction will be handled by KNPP LLP and the French company Assystem.

Russia's Rosatom will build Kazakhstan's first NPP, while cooperation with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is planned for the second.

Later, Rosatom signed a roadmap with Kazakhstan to build two VVER-1200 nuclear power units. Construction will take approximately 11 years and is expected to be finished in 2035-2036.

State export financing from Russia is being arranged for the first NPP, which will cost $14 billion. The project's feasibility study is due by December 2025.

Three NPPs are planned under the national nuclear cluster project.