Before completing a four-day trip to China on September 3, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Shen Yanfeng, chair of China’s National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). It was an indication that Tashkent may be trying to hedge its bets in case a preliminary deal with Russia to build nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the Central Asian state falls through. 

A statement released September 2 by Mirziyoyev’s office indicated that the president’s discussions with Shen focused on the topics of geological surveying assistance and technology transfers for uranium mining and refining. It also stated that the two sides explored “expanding cooperation” in the sphere of peaceful atomic energy.

Meanwhile, Uzbek Minister of Mining and Geology Bobir Islamov announced that Uzbekistan and China had signed 13 new mining-related deals, including for uranium, with a reported value of $5bn. The agreements will “strengthen [Uzbekistan’s] export potential,” Islamov said in a state television interview.

Uzbek authorities signed an agreement in June with Russia’s state-controlled nuclear energy entity Rosatom to conduct a feasibility study to build up to four VVER-1000 reactors in the country. Earlier, Rosatam was enlisted by Tashkent to build as many as six smaller RITM-200N units, capable of generating 55 megawatts of power each per year. 

Rosatom also has a deal in place to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant. A groundbreaking ceremony for that facility, to be situated on the shores of Lake Balkhash, took place in August. But the project has been clouded by uncertainty over financing, which appeared to be a factor in Astana’s awarding the construction contract for the country’s second nuclear plant to CNNC.

Aware of Rosatom’s present financial difficulties, linked in part to the international sanctions imposed on Russia over its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, Mirziyoyev in China may well have explored lining up CNNC as a backup plan to build Uzbekistan’s reactors.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.