Infrastructure work for a six-unit small modular reactor nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan is expected to begin in the autumn, after the signing of a protocol on the entry into force of the construction contract signed last month.

An agreement between Uzbekistan and Russia will see a six-unit small modular reactor nuclear power plant built in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan, with construction work due to begin as early as this summer.

France and Kazakhstan have pledged cooperation on minerals and the nuclear fuel cycle, while in Uzbekistan there was agreement to raise the level of bilateral relations, during official visits by President Emmanuel Macron this week. The French president was accompanied by a large delegation including representatives from French industry.

Remediation work at legacy uranium mining sites in Uzbekistan is under way, bolstered by a EUR9 million (USD11 million) grant from the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia set up on the initiative of the European Union and managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded a five-day Site and External Events Design mission to Uzbekistan, which plans to build its first nuclear power plant in the southeast of the country.

A newly signed tripartite agreement broadens the scope of the collaboration between Orano Mining and its Uzbek partners and lays the foundations for the development of new uranium mines in Uzbekistan.

Environmental remediation of former uranium mining sites at Yangiabad and Charkesar in Uzbekistan is set to begin following the signing of a EUR7 million (USD7 million) grant agreement between the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia and the Uzbek government.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Rosenergoatom, Rosatom Training Academy and the Agency for Nuclear Power Engineering Development at the Ministry of Energy in Uzbekistan.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has instructed Uzbekistan to develop a four-year uranium exploration programme, as well as transforming state mining company Navoi and training suitably qualified personnel for the country's minerals sector.