Polls are open in Kazakhstan Sunday for a landmark referendum on building the country’s first nuclear power plant, confronting the country's painful legacy as a testing ground for Soviet nuclear weapons.

Kazakhstan voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to build its first nuclear power plant, and an exit poll showed voters backed the idea promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's cabinet as a way to phase out polluting coal plants.

Voters in Kazakhstan reportedly have approved a plan that would bring the country its first nuclear power plant. Election officials said 70% of voters in

Authorities in Kazakhstan are widely expected to get their way in a referendum on nuclear power. But the question of which countries will be involved in building the future nuclear facility will have to wait until after the vote.

Voting in a referendum to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant began on Sunday, with Korea keenly watching the process as one of the four candidates for the project if the referendum passes.