Kazakhstan will prioritise nuclear energy adoption

Significance In November Kazakhstan made public its accession to the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy, which commits signatories to tripling nuclear energy capacity from 2020 to 2050. The country has huge reserves of uranium; Astana regards renewables as unreliable and there are limits to how much additional gas-fired generation it can build. Impacts Construction costs are likely to increase substantially during implementation and delays are also likely. Opponents of NPP construction cite large-scale corruption as a significant risk. The development of civilian atomic power is expected to benefit applied research, including in the sphere of energy and medicine.