Russia has historically been the sole dominant player in the region and is trying to maintain its leading position, while China has invested billions of dollars as part of its "Belt and Road Initiative".

In a joint statement, Kazakhstan and Russia's nuclear agencies said that they had started "engineering surveys to select the optimal site and prepare project documentation for the construction of a large-capacity nuclear power plant".

"This project is Kazakhstan's strategic choice and a driver of long-term economic growth for the region and the country as a whole," said the head of the Kazakh nuclear agency Almasadam Satkaliev.

China is set to build two more plants in the resource-rich country, with the details to be revealed by the end of the year, Kazakh authorities said.

Kazakhstan supplies 43 percent of the world's uranium and is the third-largest supplier of raw uranium to the European Union.

But it struggles to generate enough electricity for domestic consumption and nuclear power is a sensitive topic in the country following Soviet-era nuclear tests that exposed 1.5 million people to radiation.

Construction of the first nuclear plant -- to be built near the half-abandoned village of Ulken on Lake Balkhash -- is set to take several years.

Russia's Rosatom said that the reactor will have a 60-year lifespan, with the option to extend that for another 20 years.

France and South Korea also competed for the rights to secure the contract to build the station, but Kazakhstan said it had chosen neighbouring Russia and China, which "objectively had the best bids".

Across the region, Russia also plans to build a nuclear plant in Uzbekistan and wants to build a small reactor in Kyrgyzstan.