Kazakhstan to hold referendum on nuclear plant construction – president

Kazakhstan will hold a referendum to decide whether to build its first nuclear power plant, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday, adding that the date would be decided later. But some activists oppose the project because of safety concerns and Kazakhstan's history as home to the Soviet-operated Semei nuclear weapons testing ground. "On the one hand, Kazakhstan, as the world's biggest uranium producer, should have its own nuclear power capacity," Tokayev said.