The Uzbekistan government and Rosatom have reached an agreement to build the first nuclear power plant in the country, with commercial operations targeted to start by 2028, in an effort to free up natural gas for export, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in a statement posted Tuesday on his website. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now The nuclear power plant would comprise two 1,200-MW units, Mirziyoyev said, although the statement did not specify what reactor technology was chosen for the project. Uzbekistan needs the nuclear power plant to decrease the share of natural gas used in the domestic power generation industry, the statement said. Currently, 85% of the country’s estimated 69 billion kWh of demand is met by coal- and gas-fired generators, the statement added. Uzbekistan consumes 16.5 billion cubic meters a year of domestically produced natural gas to generate electricity […]