The head of Uzatom, Uzbekistan’s atomic energy agency, Azim Akhmedkhadjayev said recently that the first small modular reactor of Uzbekistan’s ongoing nuclear power plant (NPP) project is to be commissioned in 2029, while the first large reactor will come online in 2033. The first president of the country, Islam Karimov, also understood the need for a nuclear power plant, but never took concrete steps toward its realization. “They [investors, lenders] will receive the profits generated by the nuclear power plant in the form of dividends. “It is important that Russia will not only build the nuclear power plant, but will also provide its Uzbek partners with a preferential export loan and provide support throughout the entire life cycle of the plant,” noted Putin. Tashkent is afraid that Western sanctions might affect the project, as they seem to have affected the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant – another Rosatom flagship nuclear plant project in Turkiye.