Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Russia and Kazakhstan signed three intergovernmental agreements on 28 May 2026 during President Putin's state visit to Astana, formalising construction of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant at Ulken village on Lake Balkhash. The plant will comprise two VVER-1200 power units (total ~2.4 GW capacity); Russia will provide a state export credit financing ~85% of the estimated USD 14.4 billion construction cost. The IGAs cover: (1) basic principles and conditions of cooperation for construction of the "Balkhash" NPP; (2) state export credit terms; and (3) cooperation in nuclear and radiological safety regulation. Construction is targeted to commence in 2027, with the first unit operational by 2034.

President Tokayev signed Decree U2600001233 on 15 April 2026, formally adopting the Strategy for the Development of the Nuclear Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2050. The 30-year framework marks a structural pivot for the world's largest uranium producer (~45% of global mined supply) from a raw-ore export model toward domestic nuclear-energy sovereignty, targeting at least three operational NPPs by 2050 (a fourth under assessment), 5% of national electricity from nuclear by 2035, and 50% combined nuclear and renewables by 2050. The strategy mandates SMR evaluation for regional deployment, a 1% R&D levy on uranium miners' production costs through 2030, and the development of a Kazakh "nuclear cluster" producing high-value fuel-cycle goods and services rather than raw uranium concentrate alone.

Kazakhstan's Department of Atomic Energy signed a new Subsoil Use Agreement (SUA) for production at the Akdala uranium deposit, effective 29 March 2026, replacing the expired March 2001 contract. Subsoil rights are held by YUGHK LLP (South Mining and Chemical Company Joint Venture), in which Uranium One (a Rosatom subsidiary) owns 70% and Kazatomprom 30%. The deposit holds approximately 1,500 tonnes of uranium reserves and is expected to operate through 2030, after which the asset is subject to trust management transfer to Kazatomprom as the national company. The renewal was signed expressly to prevent disruption to the technological process and maintain social stability in the region, preserving Rosatom's controlling stake in a single producing Kazakhstani deposit at a time when Kazakhstan is otherwise tightening state control over strategic mineral assets.

On 2 February 2026 Kazatomprom disclosed in its 4Q25 Operations and Trading Update that it had amended multiple Subsoil Use Agreements (SUAs) to reduce the total 2026 licensed annual production ceiling from 32,777 tU to 29,697 tU — a reduction of approximately 3,080 tU (~9.4%). The primary driver is construction and commissioning delays at the Budenovskoye uranium deposit (JV with Uranium Energy Corp / UrAsia, Kazatomprom 51%), preventing the planned ramp-up. Revised 2026 production guidance of 27,500–29,000 tU on a 100% basis sits below the revised licensed ceiling, indicating that actual deliveries will be further constrained; force-majeure notices were issued to long-term offtake counterparties affected by the Budenovskoye shortfall. Kazakhstan accounts for approximately 43% of global primary uranium mine supply, making even a licensed-capacity adjustment a material signal for the global U3O8 and UF6 supply curve.

On 26 December 2025 the President of Kazakhstan signed a law amending the Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" with respect to the hydrocarbon and uranium sectors, followed on 30 December 2025 by a parallel set of amendments implementing presidential instructions on broader subsoil-use governance. Both packages take effect on 2 March 2026. The uranium amendments grant the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom (KAP) a statutory priority right to obtain exploration licences over prospective uranium areas listed in the State Subsoil Fund Management Programme, and to reserve blocks containing uranium mineralisation or deposits. Where uranium mineralisation is discovered on a solid-mineral block held by a third-party subsoil-user, an extension of that licence is conditional on the licensee surrendering the uranium-bearing block to the State; private subsoil-users no longer obtain priority production rights for uranium they discover. The amendments also raise the minimum direct or indirect Kazatomprom interest in any uranium mining project from 50% to 75%, and permit subsequent transfer to investors or joint-venture partners only subject to that 75% floor. The 30 December 2025 package establishes the National Geological Service as a non-privatisable national operator subordinate to the authorised subsoil-exploration agency and as the operator responsible for managing geological information; it also creates a Unified Subsoil Use Platform digital infrastructure (open geological-information database integrated with the Unified State System for Management of the Fuel and Energy Complex). The hydrocarbon track of the law shortens block-reservation periods and pushes unallocated plots into electronic-auction allocation to accelerate competitive exploration. The amendments accompany an announced USD 500m state geological-exploration programme.

On 18 July 2025 Kazakhstan's Parliament adopted Law No. 215-VIII ZRK "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Taxation Matters," which abolishes the legacy priority-investment-project and special-investment-contract regimes under the Entrepreneurial Code and replaces them with three new contractual instruments — the Investment Agreement, the Investment Obligations Agreement, and the Simplified Investment Contract — effective 1 January 2026. The law is the binding legal operationalisation of the October 2024 Concept of Investment Policy until 2029 (filed), the US-Kazakhstan Critical Minerals MOU of November 2025 (filed), and the EU-Kazakhstan Strategic Partnership Roadmap 2025-2026 (filed), providing a contractual-certainty architecture for the USD 150 billion FDI-attraction target that previous "priority investment project" frameworks lacked. A statutory effectiveness-evaluation obligation (first of its kind in Central Asia) for assessing the socio-economic impact of granted investment preferences enters force separately on 1 July 2026.

Kazakhstan's Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII ZRK ("On Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget"), signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 18 July 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, replaces the 2017 Tax Code (Code No. 120-VI ZRK) with a wholesale recodification of the Kazakh tax regime. The most consequential IPTM-relevant provision restructures the uranium mineral extraction tax (MET) from a flat 6% rate to a differentiated schedule of 4–18% tiered by annual production volume per subsoil use agreement, supplemented by uranium-price-band surcharges of 0.5–2.5% above $70–$110/lb thresholds. The code also introduces a tenfold MET reduction for processing man-made mineral formations (mining waste / tailings reclamation) to incentivise circular-economy mineral recovery, and for exploration or production licenses issued after 31 December 2026, replaces MET with a tiered royalty regime — ore 13%, concentrate 10%, refined metals 7% — grandfathering existing operating projects under MET. The processing-grade discount (ore → concentrate → metal) is an explicit incentive to push value-added steps onshore within Kazakhstan. Directly material to Kazatomprom (NAC Kazatomprom JSC), the world's largest uranium producer supplying approximately 43% of global output, and to all solid-mineral operators (chromium, copper, zinc, gold) commencing new subsoil use agreements after January 2027.

On 27 December 2017 President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed Code No. 125-VI ZRK "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use," a wholesale recodification replacing the 2010 Subsoil Use Law that entered into force on 29 June 2018 (with certain provisions deferred to 1 January 2019). The Code establishes the licensing architecture for all mineral extraction in Kazakhstan — the world's leading uranium producer (~40% of global U₃O₈ output, ~22,000 tU/yr) and a top-11 oil exporter (~1.8 mbpd) — covering solid minerals, hydrocarbons, and uranium under a single codified framework. For solid minerals the Code introduces a liberalised "first-come first-served" auction-free licence model for non-strategic deposits and a state-tender model for strategic deposits, alongside subsoil-use rights transfer and pledge provisions governing all M&A in the sector. For uranium the Code codifies the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom's statutory role as state operator over all uranium blocks, with government priority pre-emption rights and mandatory Kazatomprom participation in all production licences. For hydrocarbons the Code establishes the concession and production-sharing framework governing the pre-salt Caspian mega-projects (Tengiz, Karachaganak, Kashagan) and the model contract architecture for petroleum products. Horizontal obligations — local Kazakh-content procurement floors, social-package requirements, and environmental-restoration mine-closure security — apply across all subsoil-use categories. Structurally this Code is the parent statute for every subsequently filed KZ action: the 2023-12-28 REE Comprehensive Plan and the 2025-12-26 Kazatomprom uranium-priority amendments both operate under delegated authority created by this Code.