In his recent address to the people of Kazakhstan at a joint session of the Parliament, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev touched upon the issues of political and socio-economic development of the country.
For the transition to a new economic system, new production facilities, new industrial products are needed, which require energy, and hence the problem of building a power plant in our country, which has long been discussed in society, arises.
The national referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant, which will be held on October 6 this year, will show the opinion of our people on this matter.
Today, nuclear power plants operate in more than 30 countries around the world. The United States, France, China and the United States are the largest producers of nuclear energy. If the share of nuclear energy increases, the problem of energy supply for the country will be solved, according to forecasts. The construction of a nuclear power plant may take 10-15 years, and this is a fairly long period. On the other hand, the service life of any nuclear power plant is about 30 years, after which the problem of storing the resulting nuclear waste arises.
Another problem is that any nuclear power plant needs to be cooled, and Lake Balkhash has been chosen for the construction of the plant.
However, the main problem associated with nuclear power plants is the lack of energy sources in the future. Currently, only 3 percent of energy in Kazakhstan comes from renewable sources such as wind and sun. If this volume is increased to 15 percent, then Kazakhstan will not need to build a nuclear power plant.
Our country has a global commitment to reduce the level of harmful emissions to zero.
The advantage of nuclear power plants is, firstly, a very low level of raw material consumption (uranium is used), and secondly, a very high generated capacity. One nuclear power plant is capable of providing electricity to such a large metropolis as Almaty. Thirdly, the amount of fuel consumed daily compared to a thermal power plant is small.
The issue of building a nuclear power plant is an ever-rising controversy. Of course, electricity from a nuclear power plant is considered "green energy" according to the Paris Agreement. According to power engineers, a nuclear power plant is a source of cheap and environmentally friendly energy, so the construction of a nuclear power plant will provide an excellent opportunity to make our country independent of energy shortages. We are in favor of using the safest technologies.
Department of Thermal Physics and Technical Physics
Associate Professor Asembaeva M.K.
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