Tokayev: Building nuclear power plants will correct a historical absurdity and boost Kazakhstan’s prestige

Tengrinews.kz – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said that the construction of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan is both a strategic necessity and a matter of national prestige.
Tokayev made the remarks in an interview with the Turkistan newspaper, commenting on the role of nuclear energy in his long-term development plans for the country.
Responding to a question about the place of nuclear power in Kazakhstan’s future, the President said that without reliable energy generation, the country would not be able to transition to a new technological model of the economy. Supercomputers, data centers and automated industrial complexes, he noted, require vast amounts of electricity – a reality of the new global technological era.

“The construction of several nuclear power plants is, on the one hand, a correction of a historical absurdity – being a world leader in uranium production while having not built a single nuclear power plant. On the other hand, it is a matter of Kazakhstan’s prestige. We should also remember that building nuclear plants will allow us to train a new class of technical intelligentsia, which in turn will change the very essence of our state policy,” Tokayev said.

The President emphasized that developing new energy sources requires highly qualified personnel. In this context, he referred to forecasts by the head of NVIDIA, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, who has predicted that “blue-collar” workers – specialists in technical professions – could soon enter the ranks of multimillionaires.
Tokayev also highlighted rare-earth metals as another critically important issue. Demand for critical materials, he said, is expected to double over the next five years.

“This opens a new window of opportunity for Kazakhstan. It is quite possible that we will become one of the world’s leaders in terms of rare-earth mineral reserves,” the President said.

To strengthen its position in this strategically important area, Tokayev noted, Kazakhstan has begun expanding cooperation with the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, Japan and several European Union countries.