As Africa struggles to close its power deficit, it has adopted an all-of-the-above strategy regarding fuel options and nuclear power is no longer off the table, according to a report in OilPrice.
When it comes to talk, Russia appears willing to spend the most on financing nuclear power plants in Africa. But China, South Korea and other countries are positioning themselves as Africa’s nuclear power market heats up, Ronke Luke reports in OilPrice.
To close the huge power deficit and boost their economies, Africa’s larger economies – South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria – and smaller, uranium-rich countries such as Namibia and Niger have decided it might be time to go nuclear.
Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, and Morocco have also publicly expressed interest in nuclear power.
At the current pace of electrification, Africa will achieve universal access in 2080 — an unacceptable outcome, according to the Africa Progress Report 2015. As a whole, the continent must annually invest $55 billion (or 3-4 percent of total GDP) to speed up the pace and reach universal access to electricity by 2030, OilPrice reports.
Discussions about Africa’s power options often focus on renewables, hydropower and natural gas. Coal, used heavily in Southern Africa, and diesel, used across Africa, are not favored as much in discussions with international development organizations and financiers.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it will help African countries develop nuclear electricity including advice on international best practices and standards. National governments will be responsible for regulatory oversight.
South Africa is the only African country with nuclear power (2 gigawatts), and is actively planning to develop at least six new nuclear reactors (9.6 gigawatts by) 2030 at a cost of $100 billion, according to an earlier AFKInsider report. France, China, Korea, U.S. Japan and Russia are vying for a piece of the business. China has started training South Africans in nuclear plant operations.
Russia’s state-owned Rosatom is considered a frontrunner in the next round of awards. The ANC-led government in South Africa stressed that the partnership did not mean Russia had won the tender, according to PublicFinanceInternational.
BRICS partners Russia and China are expected to offer generous financing with their bids but skeptics doubt either will deliver the expected funding. No one is certain who will pay for such a massive expansion, OilPrice reports. Nuclear power opponents including Greenpeace are demanding transparency and argue that South Africa’s nuclear push is a waste of money, better spent on renewables to address the country’s power shortfall.
After South Africa, Kenya appears to be the most active African country in planning its nuclear power future, according to OilPrice. It has 2.2 megawatts of installed grid capacity with 20 gigawatts of geothermal potential. An economy of Kenya’s size should have 45-to-55 gigawatts of installed capacity, according to estimates.
Adding nuclear into its fuel mix would help Kenya close its power supply gap, OilPrice reports. Kenya projects bringing 1 gigawatt of nuclear power on line by 2025.
China will help Kenya build skills and provide technical support with site selection and feasibility studies. Slovenia and South Korea are positioning themselves for upcoming deals. The first group of Kenyans is studying nuclear engineering in South Korea.
Nigeria will miss its target to go nuclear by 2017, but it has made progress building its institutional framework since first declaring its nuclear intent in 2007. With power-sector privatization failing to meet the projected surge in power supply, Nigeria is ramping up efforts to explore its nuclear power options. It plans 1-to-2 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and has chosen potential sites, according to OilPrice. Russia is at the forefront of this development.
Rosatom, Russian state-owned nuclear company, can spend “$300 – $350 billion per year to build nuclear plants in Russia and abroad,” Reuters reports. Rosatom and the Nigerian government signed a cooperation agreement in 2012 to commission and decommission nuclear facilities. After more talks in 2015, Rosatom will finance and operate the $20-billion project (four plants, each worth $5 billion), according to Nigerian officials. The plan is for the first plant to be operating in 2025.
With global sales of nuclear power plants flat following the Fukushima accident, Africa’s interest in nuclear power is generating excitement. Governments have said little to address safety concerns raised by industry watchdogs and citizen’s groups, OilPrice reports. Industry observers and continent-watchers are skeptical that all this expensive nuclear capacity will be built.
