Kyrgyzstan considering possible Russian SMR plant

In a statement after talks with Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov, the Russian President said: "Energy is one of the most important sectors of Russian-Kyrgyz cooperation. Our country fully meets Kyrgyzstan's gasoline and diesel needs, and does so on preferential terms, without levying export duties, which also has a direct economic impact on the republic."

He also said Gazprom supplies natural gas, Russian companies participate in the design and modernisation of hydroelectric power plants and joint construction of a large solar power plant is planned.

"Rosatom is implementing a large-scale reclamation programme for uranium mining sites. The possibility of constructing the republic's first nuclear power plant using advanced Russian small modular reactor technologies is being explored. These reactors, I emphasise, meet the most stringent safety and environmental protection requirements," he said.

In September, during the World Atomic Week international forum in Moscow, Altynbek Rysbekov, Deputy Minister of Energy of Kyrgyzstan, said the country was working with Rosatom "to determine which areas could [be] suitable for a nuclear power plant and what capacity it should have", according to the in-house Strana Rosatom publication.

In the published text of his speech after the talks, Kyrgyzstan's president did not refer directly to nuclear energy plans, but talked about the close links between the two countries and their future development: "Our government agencies have been instructed to accelerate joint efforts to supplement the bilateral agenda with new promising areas and identify new areas of mutual interest. Just now ... a new set of bilateral documents has been signed in the areas of education, healthcare, migration, security, economic and military-technical cooperation. I am pleased to add that the contractual and legal framework between the two countries includes more than 400 documents." 

Russia has developed land-based and floating small modular reactor (SMR) plants featuring the RITM-200N water-cooled reactor, which is adapted from nuclear-powered icebreaker technology, with thermal power of 190 MW or electric power of 55 MW and with an intended service life of 60 years.

The first export order has been signed with Uzbekistan for two of the units to feature alongside two large VVER-1200 units at the country's first nuclear power plant. The first SMR unit is scheduled to go critical in late 2029.

Electricity generation in Kyrgyzstan is mainly from hydro (over 90%). The country has no nuclear power, but in January 2022 signed a memorandum of cooperation with Rosatom for a feasibility study into the construction of an SMR plant based on the RITM-200N. The country has a history of uranium mining, but no uranium mining is carried out there today.