Uzbekistan Starts Nuclear Plant Construction as $9.5 Billion Project Combines Small and Large Reactors

First concrete poured in Jizzakh

Uzbekistan formally began construction of its first nuclear power plant on June 4, 2026, pouring an initial 133 cubic metres of concrete for a small reactor in Farish District, Jizzakh Region. The planned complex will combine two reactors producing 55 megawatts each with two much larger VVER-1000 units, giving it a total electricity capacity of 2,110 megawatts.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised the launch through a video link connecting the construction site with St. Petersburg. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), addressed participants at the site. Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom is building the plant with Uzbekistan's Atomic Energy Agency, Uzatom.

Rosatom's construction launch statement identifies the first foundation as belonging to a small modular reactor using the RITM-200N design. The larger reactors form part of the same integrated project, but the small units are to be built first.

The project brings together a major electricity investment, a new nuclear industry and substantial borrowing. Uzatom director Azim Akhmedkhadzhaev has put the base contract price at $9.5 billion. When fully operating, the plant is expected to generate 17.2 billion kilowatt hours annually, according to Rosatom.

What makes the plant integrated?

The Uzbekistan project places two different sizes of nuclear reactor at one site. Each VVER-1000 unit is designed to produce about 1,000 megawatts of electricity, while each RITM-200N unit will produce 55 megawatts. Rosatom describes this combination as the world's first integrated nuclear power plant.

A megawatt measures how much electricity a generator can produce at a given moment. A kilowatt hour measures electricity generated or consumed over time. The first figure describes the plant's capacity; the annual output estimate describes how much electricity it is expected to deliver during a year.

The two large reactors account for 2,000 of the project's 2,110 megawatts, or about 95% of its planned capacity. The small reactors provide the remaining 110 megawatts. This makes the construction sequence important: the first small unit is an early step toward a much larger electricity supply.

The RITM-200N is a reactor cooled by water and adapted from technology used aboard Russian nuclear icebreakers. Its intended service life is 60 years. Small modular reactors, often called SMRs, are designed to generate less power per unit than conventional large reactors. Grossi described Uzbekistan's project as the first export order for any SMR.

How the project grew

The May 2024 agreement originally envisaged six RITM-200N units with a combined capacity of 330 megawatts. The plan subsequently shifted toward a combination of small and large reactors, with cooperation documents signed in September 2025 and a supplementary construction agreement signed on March 24, 2026.

The current configuration increases planned capacity from 330 to 2,110 megawatts, about 6.4 times the original figure. It also changes the balance of the project: two large reactors will deliver most of the electricity, while two small reactors remain part of the development.

The main milestones span several years:

• May 27, 2024: Russia and Uzbekistan signed a protocol expanding their 2018 nuclear cooperation agreement to include a small modular nuclear plant, alongside a construction contract.
• September 26, 2025: Rosatom and Uzatom signed documents expanding their cooperation during World Atomic Week in Moscow.
• October 2025: Excavation began for the first small reactor.
• March 23, 2026: Uzbekistan issued permission to use the site for nuclear installations.
• March 24, 2026: The parties signed the supplementary agreement for the integrated plant.
• June 4, 2026: The construction licence was issued and the first structural concrete was poured.

The first unit, producing 55 megawatts, has been planned to reach its first sustained nuclear reaction in late 2029. This stage is called going critical. Electricity generation follows further testing and commissioning. A revised timetable for bringing all four units into operation has not been announced.

Why there were two construction ceremonies

June's ceremony followed an earlier celebration of the start of work more than two months before. Construction activity had already included extensive excavation and preparatory concrete work. The June event marked the formal start of construction of the reactor building's foundation slab.

Workers excavated roughly 1.5 million cubic metres of soil for a pit 13 metres deep. About 900 cubic metres of concrete were used in preparatory foundation work in March, followed by levelling and waterproofing before the structural foundation pour.

Uzatom's official launch announcement says the initial June pour involved 133 cubic metres and gives the total concrete volume as more than 10,000 cubic metres. Rosatom gives a total of 10,000 cubic metres; the construction account identifies that amount with the foundation work.

Uzatom and Rosatom explain that the first structural concrete gives the facility the formal status of a nuclear plant under construction under IAEA standards. The earlier work prepared the ground and foundation base for that milestone.

What the safety licence covers

Uzbekistan's Committee for Industrial, Radiation and Nuclear Safety issued the construction licence on June 4 to the state Directorate for the Construction of the Nuclear Power Plant. The licence concerns a power unit equipped with a RITM-200N reactor.

The committee approved the licence after a comprehensive review of design documents, technical decisions and the safety justification. A safety justification explains how the proposed design addresses risks and meets the rules governing nuclear construction and operation.

Uzbekistan's Scientific and Technical Center for Radiation and Nuclear Safety conducted the review under national legislation and IAEA recommendations, with foreign experts participating, including specialists from Russia. The site permission issued on March 23 was an earlier regulatory step.

The committee will maintain state supervision throughout construction to check compliance with the licence and nuclear and radiation safety requirements. The IAEA has also offered technical cooperation to strengthen regulation, safety and workforce capacity as Uzbekistan develops nuclear power.

How much electricity could it supply?

Rosatom expects the completed plant to produce 17.2 billion kilowatt hours a year, equivalent to 17.2 terawatt hours. Andrey Petrov, Rosatom's first deputy director general for nuclear energy and president of Atomstroyexport, says it could meet up to 14% of Uzbekistan's electricity demand.

Petrov described the projected contribution during the launch ceremony:

Once commissioned, the NPP will be capable of supplying up to 14% of the country's electricity demand. This will provide a powerful boost to industrial, technological, and economic development.

Uzbek authorities have also been reported as estimating a contribution above 15%, with annual generation of about 16 billion to 17 billion kilowatt hours. The difference in the demand share matters because the percentage depends on both plant output and the country's electricity consumption when the reactors are operating.

The project is expected to save more than 3.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually by replacing some electricity generation that would otherwise use gas. That connects the plant's value to two resources: the electricity it produces and the fuel it allows Uzbekistan to retain for other uses.

Akhmedkhadzhaev, the Uzatom director, presented the construction launch as part of a wider national development programme:

Today, we are not simply laying the first concrete for the nuclear power plant's foundation. We are laying the foundation for a bright and sustainable future for the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Who will pay for the project?

Akhmedkhadzhaev has described $9.5 billion as the project's base price and maximum contract amount. Uzbekistan wants loans to cover 85% to 90% of the cost and is considering discussions with the New Development Bank and other potential financing partners.

Applied to the stated base price, that borrowing target amounts to roughly $8.1 billion to $8.6 billion. It shows how central financing will be to delivering the plant: most of the initial investment would come from lenders rather than direct spending from Uzbekistan's own funds.

Uzbekistan also seeks 30% localisation, meaning a larger share of work, supplies or services would come from within the country. Akhmedkhadzhaev said the base estimate does not include the planned localisation, which could affect how spending is distributed between foreign suppliers and Uzbek businesses.

Putin has promised a preferential export loan from Russia, along with support throughout the plant's operating life. The proposed support includes reactor fuel supplies, servicing, maintenance and management of used nuclear material. The loan amount, interest rate, repayment schedule and final financing arrangements have not been disclosed.

Jobs, training and a proposed science city

Putin said approximately 15,000 people are expected to work at the construction site. He identified installation, material supply, transport and other services as areas where Uzbek contractors could receive work.

Those construction jobs are part of a broader effort to build domestic nuclear skills. Uzbekistan will need people capable of operating reactors, maintaining equipment, supervising safety and managing nuclear material over decades. The IAEA's proposed workforce support addresses that requirement alongside its assistance with regulation.

Students Sevinch Yarkulova and Dmitry Eskin from the Tashkent branch of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI participated in the symbolic launch. Their involvement connected the ceremony to the training institutions expected to help develop the future workforce.

Petrov also described Rosatom's proposal for a science city around the plant, bringing nuclear and related technologies into a new community. That proposal extends the ambitions beyond electricity generation to research, technical employment and industrial development.

Grossi said investors from other countries were interested in the project and pointed to opportunities involving the digital economy and data centres. Electricity supply is one requirement for those industries. Nuclear generation also requires dependable water arrangements, a practical concern in Central Asia, where water resources are under pressure.

Rosatom's other overseas projects

Rosatom director general Alexey Likhachev has placed the Uzbekistan milestone alongside developments in Kazakhstan, Hungary, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The projects are at different stages, from site investigations and government agreements to reactor commissioning preparations.

In Kazakhstan, Likhachev said an engineering, procurement and construction contract was signed in September for two VVER-1200 reactors, with site surveys nearing completion. Such a contract, commonly called an EPC contract, covers engineering design, purchasing equipment and carrying out construction.

Kazakhstan's planned plant at Ulken, near Lake Balkhash, would have a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts. Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of Kazakhstan's atomic energy agency, has estimated its cost at about $16.4 billion, including roughly $2 billion for security and infrastructure. Kazakh officials have targeted construction in 2027 and commissioning of the first reactor in early 2034.

The Kazakh project has about 14% more planned generating capacity than Uzbekistan's 2,110 megawatts, while its stated cost is about 73% higher than Uzbekistan's $9.5 billion base price. The estimates cover different configurations and spending categories, including Kazakhstan's explicit allowance for security and infrastructure.

In Hungary, Likhachev said first concrete had also been poured at the Paks nuclear project and that work was proceeding on schedule. Russia and Vietnam have signed an intergovernmental agreement for two VVER-1200 units at the Ninh Thuan nuclear plant site.

Bangladesh's Rooppur project is further along. In an update dated October 9, Likhachev said the first unit's initial electricity generation was planned for the final third of November, after nuclear fuel had been loaded into the reactor core. The update did not specify the year. The core is the part of the reactor where the fuel produces heat through controlled nuclear reactions.

Uzbekistan's immediate task is construction of its first small reactor. Delivering the full electricity contribution will require completion of the larger units, agreed financing, continuing regulatory supervision and a trained workforce capable of operating the plant.

Key Points

• Uzbekistan poured first structural concrete on June 4, 2026, at the Farish site in Jizzakh Region.
• The current plan combines two reactors producing 55 megawatts each with two VVER-1000 units, for 2,110 megawatts in total.
• The first small reactor has a construction licence and is planned to reach its first sustained nuclear reaction in late 2029.
• Rosatom projects annual generation of 17.2 billion kilowatt hours and a contribution of up to 14% of national electricity demand.
• The stated base price is $9.5 billion, with Uzbekistan seeking loans for 85% to 90% of the cost.
• Russia has promised preferential financing and support covering fuel, maintenance and used nuclear material, but loan terms remain undisclosed.
• Uzbekistan's safety committee will supervise construction, while the IAEA has offered assistance with regulation, safety and workforce development.