Initial engineering surveys have begun at Ulken, in the Zhambyl District of Kazakhstan’s Almaty Region, for the country’s planned first large-scale nuclear power station, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.

According to Rosatom, the work includes drilling exploratory boreholes and soil sampling to assess seismic stability, hydrogeological conditions and other site parameters critical to plant safety and reliability. A total of at least 50 boreholes, each between 30 and 120 metres deep, will be drilled during the survey phase.