On January 27, at a meeting with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Director General of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, proposed a project for a nuclear city and a nuclear cluster.
According to him, one of the key step forward in the last year was the final approval of the plant's configuration.
I want to emphasize that a unique and highly original, distinctive solution has been found, which will house two 1000-MW VVER-1000 MW reactors and two small units with 55 MW RITM-200 reactors on a single site, he told the Uzbekistan 24 channel.
He underscored that the combination of large and small reactors yielded economic and technological benefits.
This has a significant cumulative effect on reducing electricity prices. We are combining the capital costs of all units, so to speak, into a single package, and this provides a completely different level of flexibility—the ability to maneuver the power output using small reactors, Likhachev said.
In a video posted on Rosatom's Telegram channel, he stressed that the Uzbekistan project would become a global showcase for the combination of high and low power.
This unique expertise will be of interest not only to Uzbekistan, but to the entire world, as nothing like it exists anywhere else. This is a very significant technological discovery, he added.
Likhachev pointed out that the project required comprehensive solutions and long-term planning, particularly in terms of personnel.
Training of personnel is fundamentally important, and it must be planned for centuries. And this is not just a figure of speech—we must literally plan for centuries to come, identifying the need for people. And people should not just do interesting work; they should live in very attractive and comfortable social conditions, he said.
In this context, Rosatom proposed creating a nuclear city in the Farish district.
Today, we dared to propose to the president the idea of creating a nuclear city in the Farish district. "Well, we dared, and the president has already decided to begin this work, Likhachev said.
According to him, this isn't just a city for NPP’s personnel, but a broader project.
We proposed creating not just a nuclear city near the plant, but a nuclear cluster that would encompass not only nuclear energy, but also nuclear medicine, radiological expertise for agriculture, healthcare, and materials science. We understand today that energy independence, energy sovereignty, isn't just about building a certain amount of generating capacity. It's about smart grids, data centers, storage capacity, and the calculated use of all types of green energy: gas, wind, and solar, he said.
Likhachev believes that only nuclear energy can provide 24/7 baseload power. He reported that the Kurchatov Institute has already joined the effort and didn't rule out the possibility of deploying a research reactor.
It's possible to locate a new research reactor there. This entire complex requires its own digital industry, its own digital solutions, a data processing center, and work on new materials and technologies, he underscored.
He emphasized that the project envisioned the creation of a full-fledged innovation center. "Therefore, we can talk about creating not just a small town for the operating organization, but an entire innovative nuclear cluster with a potential population of up to 20,000, perhaps even 30,000 people in the next decade," stated Alexey Likhachev.
Abdujamil Kalmuratov, Director of the Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate, announced in December that the new single-industry town would be built 16 kilometers from the future NPP site. It will be designed for 10,000 families, with a population of at least 30,000. According to the master plan, the 100-hectare site will host schools, kindergartens, residential areas, parks, gyms, and a multifunctional medical center.
