This weekend, events in
Kazakhstan were in the spotlight of the world media. On October 6, the country
held a referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant. Various foreign
media outlets featured articles about the referendum process on their platforms.
As reported by the
American news agency Bloomberg, Kazakhstan has joined a number of states
seeking to utilize a clean energy source to reduce emissions into the
atmosphere. The public has supported this decision; according to an exit poll
by the Institute of Eurasian Integration, about 72 percent of respondents voted
in favor of the construction of a nuclear power plant.
France 24 noted that
Kazakhstan is the world's largest producer of uranium and has huge oil reserves
but lacks electricity. To eliminate it, the country is set to use nuclear
energy.
Meanwhile, the German
portal Deutsche Welle quoted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who, on the eve
of the nationwide referendum, called the potential NPP construction «the
biggest project in the history of Independent Kazakhstan».