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Mombasa - Nigeria is in talks with Russia’s Rosatom to build as many as four nuclear power plants costing about $80bn (R972bn) as Africa’s biggest economy seeks to add 1 200MW of capacity by the end of the decade.
“A joint coordination committee is in place and negotiations are ongoing for financing and contracting,” Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission chairperson and CEO Franklin Erepamo Osaisai said at a conference in Kenya’s Kwale coastal region on Monday.
“We are meticulously implementing our plans.”
The talks comes after South Africa signed a deal with Russia to build up to eight nuclear power stations.
READ: SA signs nuclear deal with Russia
First plant to be operational in 2024
The West African nation signed an agreement with Rosatom to cooperate on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of a facility in 2012.
A further three nuclear plants are planned, taking total capacity to 4 800MW by 2035, with each facility costing $20bn (R242.78bn), Osaisai said.
The first Nigerian plant will be operational in 2025.
Peak electricity output of Africa’s biggest economy is about 3 800MW, with a further 1 500MW unavailable because of gas shortages.
South Africa, with a third of Nigeria’s population yet eight times more installed capacity, has also signed an agreement with Rosatom as it looks to add 9 600MW of atomic power to its strained grid.
South Africa’s agreement with Rosatom gave the company the right to veto the nation doing business with any other nuclear vendor, Fin24 reported.
READ: Nene: Nuclear build a ‘substantial commitment’
Cooperation meeting
Rosatom and Nigerian officials met last month within the framework of a 2009 intergovernmental agreement to discuss cooperation, Rosatom spokesperson Sergei Novikov said by phone from Istanbul. To date, no memorandums have been signed about the development of a nuclear plant, he said.
Rosatom will hold a majority, controlling stake in Nigeria’s nuclear facility while the rest will be owned by the country, with roles to be specified in contracts, Osaisai said. “The government will enter a power-purchasing agreement for the nuclear plant.”
The plants will be financed by Rosatom, which will then build, own, operate and transfer them to the government, he said.
Moscow seeks new markets
Rosatom is marketing its reactors with generous financing offers as Moscow seeks new markets for its technology amid a looming recession.
Over the last year, its international portfolio of orders has grown to more than $100bn (R1.2trn), including deals to build new reactors in Iran, Hungary, India and Jordan.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russia agreed last year on a €12bn (R153.86bn) deal to expand the Paks nuclear power plant, scrapping plans for competitive bids for the biggest Hungarian public contract in a generation.
Under the deal, which Hungary’s parliament classified for 30 years, Russia agreed to provide €10bn for the project in a 30-year loan at below-market rates.
Hungary is in talks with the European Union after the bloc raised objections that Russian companies had exclusive rights to supply fuel to the plant and started a probe of possible state aid in the financing of the project.
One megawatt is enough to provide energy to 2 000 average homes.
Africa’s sole nuclear power station is Koeberg in Cape Town, which is owned by Eskom.
* With assistance from Bloomberg’s Edith Balazs in Budapest, Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow and Chris Kay in Lagos.
