The construction cost for the first two small reactors within Uzbekistan's integrated nuclear power plant has been estimated at $1 billion, according to Suhrob Abdurahmonov, Deputy Chairman of the Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaking at the "Innoprom. Central Asia" exhibition in Tashkent. The three-day exhibition is organized by Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investment, Industry, and Trade and Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Abdurahmonov stated that the initial phase involves building two small reactors, each with a capacity of 55 MW. "Even at the first stage, the project's cost is estimated at approximately $1 billion, which will require very large volumes of high-quality products," he said. This forces enterprises, from electrical equipment manufacturers to construction material suppliers, to transition to a qualitatively new stage of standardization.

The deputy chairman assessed that the nuclear plant construction in Jizzakh region will lead to the development of a massive cluster of additional businesses, including service, transport-logistics services, and social facilities. "This means thousands of new jobs and new growth points for small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbekistan," he added.

In March 2025, "Uzatom" head Azim Akhmedkhodjayev had indicated that the cost of a small nuclear plant in Uzbekistan would be less than $2 billion, with plans for a six-reactor station totaling 330 MW. However, in September last year, Uzbekistan and Russia signed documents altering the configuration of the planned nuclear station in the Forish district of Jizzakh region – instead of six small power units, plans now include two small reactors and two additional large reactors, each with 1 GW capacity.

In October, the director of the nuclear plant construction directorate, Abdujamil Kalmuratov, clarified that the cost of the small nuclear plant would not exceed $1 billion, with the final amount to be specified in the contract. He emphasized that construction is financed from the state budget: "This is a fully Uzbek project. The funding source is our budget."

In March 2026, "Uzatom" and "Rosatom" signed a cooperation "roadmap" and an additional agreement to the nuclear plant construction contract, where "Rosatom" CEO Alexey Likhachev claimed that the Uzbekistan project would bring up to 2 trillion rubles ($24.7 billion) in orders to Russian industry and create about 1,000 jobs. Later, "Rosatom's" press service clarified that these figures refer to the overall cooperation effect over the plant's entire lifecycle of more than 80 years.

It is noted that the small nuclear plant is based on the RITM-200N water-water nuclear reactor used in atomic icebreakers, but a ground-based plant with such reactors has not yet been built and is not a reference facility. Additionally, Uzbekistan will become the world's first country to simultaneously host both small and large nuclear plants on one site. No tender has been conducted for the nuclear power plant project.

Source: www.gazeta.uz