In Kazakhstan, debate over building a nuclear power plant grows as bitcoin miners migrate from China

The authorities in Kazakhstan have returned to the question of creating atomic generation in the country to combat electricity shortages. сообщают Vedomosti, citing a statement by Energy Minister Magzum Myrzagaliev.

The discussion followed projections of electricity production and consumption through 2035.

Among potential sites for the construction of a nuclear power plant are Ulken village in the Almaty Region and the city of Kurchatov in the East Kazakhstan Region. A final decision has not yet been made.

In 2014, the chairman of the board of Kazakhstan’s national atomic company Kazatomprom signed a memorandum with Rosatom to build a nuclear power plant. However, in 2016, the then-energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev said that the country was not experiencing a lack of capacity and did not intend to build a nuclear power plant within the next seven years.

If the project is approved, the construction could take up to ten years. For the moment, the country is coping with the deficit by importing power from Russia and through unplanned activations of Russian power plants.

Back in 2021, many cryptocurrency mining companies relocated to Kazakhstan amid the tightening of Chinese authorities’ rhetoric. As a result, the country became one of the leaders in the amount of computing power devoted to the Bitcoin network.

In September, the authorities said there was rising electricity consumption and a potential shortage. In response, Energy Minister Magzum Myrzagaliev proposed to limit the electricity consumption of mining data centers.

At the start of December, miners began leaving Kazakhstan due to electricity problems.

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