Uzbekistan is waiting for the results of feasibility studies being carried out by state nuclear agency Uzatom before making a final decision on whether or not to proceed with a nuclear new-build programme, a government official said.

Bakhrom Umarbekov, head of the country’s Reforms Implementation Office, told a webinar that the feasibility studies have not been completed and results will be announced in due course. He said: “Let’s wait and see what the feasibility studies say.”

He told the webinar, organised by the energy ministry, that Uzbekistan is planning to increase its installed energy capacity from 15 GW to about 28 GW, 15 GW of which will comes from natural gas and 5 GW from Solar. He did not mention any plans for nuclear in his breakdown of future energy sources. He said the country’s transmission and distribution systems are old and need to be modernised. “There is a power shortage because the pace of growth of electricity production is slower than demand,” he said.