The chairwoman of Kazakhstan's Central Commission on Referendums (ORK), Sabila Mustafina, said on September 3 that 15.5 billion tenges (more than $32 million) has been requested for a nationwide referendum on the construction of a nuclear power station in the Central Asian country next month.
The announcement came a day after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev announced the referendum and signed a decree setting October 6 as the date of the vote.
According to Mustafina, 71 percent of the requested sum would cover compensation for the work of more than 70,000 ORK members, while 29 percent would be used for communication activities, bulletins, and advertisements.
"The government will decide on the allocation of the mentioned sum for the referendum, after our estimations are approved by the Finance Ministry, the National Economy Ministry, and the Justice Ministry," Mustafina said.
Mustafina's deputy Konstantin Petrov said more than 12 million Kazakh citizens are eligible to vote at more than 10,000 voting sites across the country and 78 stations will be set up in different countries for Kazakh citizens residing abroad.
Only one question will be asked in the referendum: "Do you agree that Kazakhstan needs to construct a nuclear power station?"
Many in Kazakhstan expect that the answer will be "yes," considering the country's tightly controlled political environment.
But the push to build a nuclear power plant has been met by significant opposition despite apparent efforts to silence dissent on the issue. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against the nuclear power station's construction have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.
Nuclear-power-related projects have been a controversial issue in Kazakhstan, where the environment was severely impacted by operations at the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991 and the Baikonur spaceport, which is still being operated by Moscow.
Hours before his decree was made public on September 2, President Toqaev reiterated his support for the plan to build a nuclear power station.
There was no official information about the site of the future nuclear station, but a public debate was held last year in the village of Ulken on the shore of the Lake Balkhash in the southeastern region of Almaty about the possibility of constructing a nuclear power station there.
The idea to build a nuclear power station in Kazakhstan has been circulating in the country for years, leading to questions regarding what countries would be involved in the project.
Kazakh officials have tried to avoid answering the question, saying the decision would be made after a referendum.
Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed its Rosatom nuclear agency to be Kazakhstan's major partner in the project.
Kazakh Internet users mostly rejected the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's gaining control over the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Russia's attitude toward nuclear safety.