December 14, 2018, marked the end of the visit to the Novovoronezh NPP and the nuclear power city for the officials and the media representatives from the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Seven delegates of the Parliament’s Legislative House, a representative of the Ministry of Justice and nine journalists from the leading Uzbek media have paid a visit to the major facilities of the innovative 3+ generation power block No.1 of the Novovoronezh NPP-2 (No.6 Novovoronezh NPP): the machinery hall, the block’s control room, the viewing deck for the twin blocks with a VVER-1200 reactor. They have also been to the Novovoronezh NPP’s training center, which serves as a basis for the International Staff Training Center where both Russian and foreign specialists get the necessary initial and advanced training. Besides, the guests got a chance to visit the Nuclear Power Information Center (the city of Voronezh) and had a look at the external radiation control laboratory of the Novovoronezh NPP’s radiation security department.

One of the highlights of the trip was a meeting between the delegates of the Parliament’s Legislative House of Uzbekistan, the Novovoronezh city authorities and the delegate of the Novovoronezh City Duma.

‘Our team has come to Novovoronezh in order to get acquainted with the experience of nuclear power development in Russia and the activities taken by the City Duma in particular. Our lawmakers are yet to prepare the necessary legislation on using the nuclear power for peaceful purposes, and we are working on it. I believe our cooperation with Novovoronezh on that matter will go on’, Boriy Alihanov, the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative House at the Parliament of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the head of the lawmaker’s Environment Protection initiatives, the chairman of the environment safety and protection committee, said.

During their visit, the foreign guests also enjoyed a city trip, visited the Novovoronezh sports facilities – the ice arena and a multifunctional stadium, and the revamped embankment of the cooling pond. The team was particularly impressed by the city park – a natural oak forest located in the heart of Novovonezh.

‘We enjoyed the city very much. It’s very compact, cozy, and clean. There is a common myth that a city located closely to an industrial object or – even worse – to a nuclear power plant suffers from poor environment. However, we got a chance to witness that it’s nothing more than a myth. It’s actually vice versa – the city thrives’, Andrey Teshayev, the chief editor of ‘Podrobno.UZ’ news agency, said.

On October 9, 2018, Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, and Shavkat Mirziyoev, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, solemnly started the construction of the first NPP in Uzbekistan based on a Russian design project. The Uzbek counterparts chose the Novovoronezh NPP-2 with VVER-1200 reactors as a reference project. This will be the first nuclear power plant both in Uzbekistan and in Central Asia in general. At the moment, the research activities aimed at choosing a suitable construction site are underway.