Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev has updated Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on progress at the country’s first nuclear power plant. The facility is located in Forish district, Jizzakh region, and will comprise two large VVER-1000 reactors and two RITM-200N small modular reactors, each rated at 55 MWe.
The construction site is already active. On 4 June, Mirziyoyev and Vladimir Putin launched construction via video link from St. Petersburg, and in the night between 4 and 5 June the first concrete was poured for the foundation slab of the first SMR unit. The initial phase required 133 cubic meters, while the full pour will exceed 10,000. Uzatom, the Uzbek atomic energy agency, has obtained “plant under construction” status for the site under IAEA standards.
The configuration has changed several times. In 2018 the plan called for two VVER-1200s; in May 2024 it was six SMRs totaling 330 MW. In September 2025, during World Atomic Week in Moscow, the parties chose a mixed format, which was formalized on 24 March 2026 through a contract addendum signed by Likhachev and Uzatom director Azim Akhmedkhadjaev. According to Rosatom, it will be the world’s first plant with two different types of units at the same site.
The numbers explain the choice. The two 1 GW VVER-1000 units and the two 55 MW modules bring installed capacity above 2.1 GW. Rosatom estimates output of about 17.2 billion kWh per year, up to 14% of Uzbekistan’s electricity consumption. The large units cover baseload, while the smaller ones address peak demand. Part of the construction materials will be produced locally, and Uzbek universities are expanding personnel training.
The schedule calls for the first RITM-200N to reach criticality in late 2029. The two VVER-1000s are expected from 2033. The reactor, derived from the RITM-200 family originally developed for nuclear icebreakers, is being manufactured in parallel with the civil works: the 205-tonne steel ingot for the vessel was cast in May 2025.
If the schedule holds, Tashkent will have among the first land-based SMR units in operation worldwide, and a mixed-plant model that other countries with medium-sized grids may watch closely.
