Kazakhstan is planning to build it first nuclear power station on the western shore of Lake Balkhash in the Almaty region in the southeast of the country – with commissioning of a first unit scheduled for 2035, reports in Kazakh and Russian media have said.

“We have organised an interdepartmental commission not for a specific location, but for a region,” energy minister Bolat Akchulakov was quoted by the government-founded Kazinform news agency as saying at a meeting of foreign investors.

“It is the region of Lake Balkhash in the territory of Ulken, in the Almaty region.” Ulken is a settlement on the western shore of Lake Balkhash – one of the largest lakes in Asia and 15th largest in the world.