At the beginning of February 2022, at an expanded meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, K.-J.Tokayev said that it was urgently necessary to solve the issue of the country's energy security and without dean nuclear energy there are risks of losing the economy, investment and regional leadership. At the same time, the President noted that responsible persons avoided answering questions and did not explain to the population the importance of building such a station.

The reaction of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan was not Long i n coming. On February 15, at a meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bolat Akchulakov announced the need to build a nuclear power plant. In particular, in the developed energy balance of the country until 2035, the level of electricity consumption is projected at the Level of 153 billion kWh. At the same time, there is a gradual decrease in the generation of existing power plants fr om 108 billion kWh in 2020 to 88.6 billion kWh in 2035.

It is proposed that the scenario 'Green with nuclear power plants" be adopted as the basis for the development of the industry, which involves the introduction of 17.5 GW of electric power and an emphasis on the development of green energy sources, gas and nuclear generation. "Taking into account the upcoming shortage of electricity, it seems that need to reduce dependence on coal generation due to the global environmental agenda, the deterioration of production capacities, as well as the huge potential of Kazakhstan in the development of nuclear energy in the country, the construction of a nuclear power plant is the most promising solution" — Bolat Akchulakov summed up.

A few days later, answering the questions of journalists in the lobbies of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Vice Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Zhandos Nurmaganbetov noted that the decision on the construction of a nuclear power plant should be made in 2022.

As mentioned above, the scenario "Green with nuclear power plants" in the Forecast balance until 2035 provides introducing the nuclear generation in addition to increasing capacities in the system. In particular, the creation of such a facility is envisaged in the Southern Zone with a capacity of 1,200 MW in 2032 and 1,200 MW in 2035. The total share of NPP electricity in the country's energy balance will be 12%.

It should be noted that the development of the Forecast Balance until 2035 is not the only attempt to model the development of the country's energy system. As part of the development of a Strategy (doctrine) to achieve carbon neutrality of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2060, Zhasyl Damu

JSC (a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan) also conducted a modelling of the energy sector. In particular, then the feasibility of Kazakhstan's international obligations was assessed using the following modelling tools:

• TIMES (optimization energy model)

• CGE (macroeconomic model)

• System Dynamics (5 modules have been built for the most sensitive industries to the decarbonization policy (primarily in terms of socio-economic consequences);

• An integrated model based on the dynamic CGE modeL that links with two other models, TIMES and System Dynamics.

Analysis of changes in the structure of electricity generation by types of primary fuel and energy resources used until 2060 showed that nuclear energy will remain uncompetitive until 2060 in Kazakhstan and modelling in the TIMES does not offer it.

As it seems, the divergence of opinions regarding the construction of nuclear power plants exists not only among the citizens of our country, but also at the level of experts, economists, and power engineers. In our opinion, in the system of state planning there should be no difference in the methodology, modelling and calculations on the issue of forecasting the development of the country's electric power industry for both the medium and long term. It is necessary to adopt a single unified model of the energy balance and put it into strategic documents.

Taking into account the information vacuum around the issue of the construction of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan, the society splitted down the middle: for and against. The protagonists of the NPP construction are, as a rule, energy experts who understand the current situation in the electric power industry, the obligations of our country and see the NPP as a "saving" generation for the power system. The antagonists, represented by environmentalists and ordinary citizens of our country, are guided by considerations of the potential danger to health and the environment caused by the construction of a nuclear power plant.

The European Commission's decision to approve the classification of clean energy sources, wh ere both the atom and gas got into, added confusion to this issue.

However, on the understanding that in its current form, they will be forgotten in the coming decades. According to open-source information, refusal to recognize them as green would seriously complicate obtaining permits for the construction of new nuclear and gas power plants and increase the cost of attracting financing for these projects. The question here is that Europe is the Leader in "greening" the economy and the second economy after the United States in the world. Therefore, the European classification of dean and dirty economy could potentially turn out to be the gold standard for the rest of the world.

According to the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, currently 31 countries operate nuclear power plants.

As of February 2022, there are 439 power reactors in the world with a total capacity of about 390 GW, 52 reactors are under construction in 19 countries around the world. Nuclear energy accounts for 10% of the world's total electricity generation.

Taking into account the complexity, ambiguity of the issue, the polarization of opinions on the construction of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan, we believe that the most acceptable format for making a decision is to hold a nationwide referendum on the construction of nuclear power plants. At the same time, it is already necessary to carry out information and explanatory work with the population of our country, for which, apparently, our state bodies are not ready yet.

So far, the media coverage of the construction of nuclear power plants includes the appeals of the President on the need for information and explanatory work and the expression of positions by authorized state bodies and the situational reaction of these state bodies.