Kazakhstan plans strategic uranium reserve by end of 2027 to fuel three nuclear plants

Reserve announced for three plants

Deputy Prime Minister and National Economy Minister Serik Zhumangarin announced the plan on 3 November, saying the reserve would supply three nuclear power plants planned in the country. The first two have named partners: Russia's Rosatom for Balkhash and China National Nuclear Corporation for Moyinkum. The third plant's technology and partner are undecided.

A day earlier, Almassadam Satkaliyev, chairman of the Agency for Atomic Energy, told a parliamentary committee that the country's nuclear strategy calls for reserving at least 150,000 tonnes of uranium by 2050. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had proposed the idea in his 28 October state-of-the-nation address, calling a reserve covering the next 100 years "very reasonable".

Why a producer needs a stockpile

Kazakhstan has been the world's largest uranium producer since 2009 and accounts for roughly 40 percent of global mine output, according to the World Nuclear Association. It produced about 25,839 tonnes in 2025 and holds roughly 14 percent of the world's identified uranium resources. Nearly all of that output has been exported through state company Kazatomprom and its joint ventures with foreign partners.

Kazakh uranium has accounted for roughly 20 to 21 percent of recent EU natural uranium deliveries, EUalive reported, with France, the Czech Republic and Slovakia among the buyers. Kazakhstan has had no operating nuclear power reactors since the Soviet-built BN-350 near Aktau closed in 1999. Voters backed a return to nuclear power in an October 2024 referendum, with 71.12 percent of participants in favour. The government targets nuclear at 5 percent of the national generation mix by 2035.

What the reserve would contain

Satkaliyev described a multi-level system covering the full fuel chain: uranium left in the ground as a national reserve, physical stockpiles of natural uranium and inventories of ready-to-use nuclear fuel. Kazatomprom chairman Meirzhan Yusupov told Tokayev the company is conducting geological exploration in six areas covering more than 1,000 square kilometres and plans to survey the Kyzyltu area, which covers 124 square kilometres, World Nuclear News reported.

The plants it is meant to feed

The Balkhash plant, near the village of Ulken on Lake Balkhash, will use two VVER-1200 reactors with a combined capacity of about 2.4 gigawatts, equal to roughly 9 percent of Kazakhstan's current installed generating capacity. Construction is scheduled to start in 2027 and the first unit is due in 2034. Satkaliyev said engineering surveys at the site are nearing completion.

The second plant, Moyinkum, is further behind. Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov told a government briefing on 4 November that talks with CNNC cover the terms of the deal, project parameters and the timeline, and that both plants should be completed by 2035. No final construction contract has been confirmed. For a third plant, the agency is weighing a medium-capacity facility of 300 to 600 megawatts at Kurchatov in the east or an unspecified site in the west; it could also supply heat and desalinate water.

What happens next

The reserve is due by the end of 2027. Officials still have to develop and approve the conceptual framework for it. A separate intergovernmental agreement for the second plant is to be signed by the end of 2027, KazTAG reported.