According to press reports, Mr Khojaev said “we are at the finish line” with discussions on all the details of the contract, but “are not yet ready for signing”.
He said the two the parties are working out technical and financial details so that the contract is concluded on mutually beneficial terms and “without discrepancies”.
Mr Khojaev said the authorities of both countries have not set strict deadlines for signing the agreement. “At some moments it is better to do it a little later, but on much more attractive conditions,” he said. “Right now is just such a moment.”
In May Uzbekistan’s energy ministry published a strategy in which it confirmed plans to go ahead with the construction of 2,400 MW of nuclear power plants that will begin commercial operation by 2030.
Uzbekistan’s state nuclear agency Uzatom said in April that preparations for the construction of the nuclear station, which could be the first in Central Asia, were “in full swing” and the schedule has not been affected by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Uzatom was reported in local media as saying engineering and geological work is continuing at “a priority site” in an area near Lake Tuzkan in Jizzakh province, west of the capital Tashkent in the east of the country. “Also, contract negotiations are continuing with [Russian state nuclear corporation] Rosatom to agree on the terms of the main contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant,” Uzatom said.
In January Uzatom told NucNet that the preparation of external infrastructure for two Russia-supplied pressurised water reactor units is scheduled to begin next year.
Uzbekistan signed an inter-governmental agreement with Russia in September 2018 for the development of the its first nuclear power station. The facility, which will be constructed by Rosatom, will have two blocks with a combined capacity of 2,400 MW. The first is due to come on line in 2028 and the second in 2030.
