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Eurasia
October 26, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
have not yet finalised a concrete decision on a region for the project. Rosatom head Alexei Likh- achev has previously said that the western Navoi region would be the most suitable territory for the construction of a nuclear power plant, but the Uzbek side has also suggested Jizzakh region as a potential site.
UzAtom is set to start discussions on an engi- neering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in January 2019, said Mirzakhmudov. The EPC is set to be funded by a soft loan from the Russian government and the Uzbek govern- ment’s own funds.
Ushakov also mentioned on October 16 that the costs of the project were to stand at $11bn, but Mirzakhmudov noted that the final costs would be subject to ongoing negotiations between the Russian and Uzbek sides.
Up to 10,000 workers will be needed for the con- struction works and another 1,500 will be needed to operate the plant after its launch.
The new power plant will help save 3.5bn cubic metres of natural gas. The gas will likely end up
being exported for approximate additional annual revenues of $550mn–$600mn.
“The reactors we selected... will help reduce emissions of CO2 by around 14mn tonnes per an- num,” Mirzakhmudov posited. The figure appears to far exceed previously reported estimates which suggested a reduction of carbon monoxide emis- sions of around 3mn tonnes a year.
There still remains the question of long-term radioactive waste that the plant may produce, but UzAtom’s director general believes that technol- ogy geared towards recycling radioactive waste under development by the Russian side “will be available” for Uzbekistan “by the time we start running our NPP [nuclear power plant]”.
Another issue still under negotiation is the source of fuel for the plant – while Uzbekistan produces its own uranium, it remains unclear what the final conditions of the deal with Rosatom will amount to.
“We are considering an option where we supply our uranium to use on a tolling basis, to produce nuclear fuel [in Russia] and to supply back to our power plant,” Mirzakhmudov said.
Queue lengthens for US waivers on sanctions applied to Iran's oil exports
bne IntelliNews
Top Turkish refiner Tupras is reportedly in talks with US officials to obtain a waiver permitting it to keep buying Iranian oil after Washington rein- states sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s oil, gas and petrochemical sectors on November 5.
Oil industry sources were on October 21 quoted by Reuters as saying Tupras has joined other waiver seekers such as Indian energy officials queuing to obtain special Trump administration exemptions
to continue importing Iranian crude shipments without fear of penalty.
With few energy natural resources of its own, Nato member Turkey depends heavily on oil and gas-rich neighbour Iran to meet its energy needs. During 2017, Iran was Turkey’s top crude oil source, accounting for 11.5mn tonnes of its total purchases of near 26mn tonnes, followed by Iraq and Russia.