Worldwide, 34 new reactors are under construction, and 280 are being planned or proposed. Since world electricity use is expected to double in the next few decades, nearly every industrialized country is considering a fresh buildout of nuclear power. No alternative is more developed, economically viable, and emission-free than nuclear energy. Global warming is weighing heavily on the international conscience, and with it comes a newfound sense of urgency to dispense with coal and other carbon fuels. His confidence might be laughable if his arguments weren't so damn convincing.Īs Dzhakishev sees it, a widespread nuclear renaissance is not only inevitable but well underway. Kazakhstan's ascendancy is far from assured, but Dzhakishev, described by colleagues as Kasparov-sharp and poker-faced, makes it sound as if he already has it all wrapped up. Now, after three years of skyrocketing uranium prices, he has found himself at the forefront of a global uranium boom that is fast making him one of the most powerful men in the country - and increasingly influential beyond it. In Kazakhstan, where the family of President Nursultan Nazarbayev controls much of the country's abundant resources, Dzhakishev, 44 years old, is a rare breed: a Moscow-educated entrepreneur who took over a floundering mining industry - and the world's largest uranium deposit outside Australia - when the Soviets broke camp here.

'I don't think there will be any competitors,' he says softly. Between spoonfuls of Beluga caviar and bites of ruby-colored tuna flown in from Dubai, he is explaining that his small state-owned company, Kazatomprom, will soon rule the global nuclear energy industry. But self-made Kazakh uranium czar Moukhtar Dzhakishev is just hitting his stride. It's late for dinner - or for interviews - in Almaty, Kazakhstan's former capital. (Fortune Magazine) - The clock is chasing down 1 A.M.

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