Officers with Kenya’s Nuclear Energy and Vitality Company (NuPEA) stated the nation is on observe to begin building on its first nuclear energy plant by 2027. The group at a parliamentary listening to this month stated the ability would start producing energy by 2034.
Kenya’s transfer is the most recent by an African nation as extra nations on the continent contemplate constructing nuclear energy stations to provide electrical energy amid burgeoning demand for energy. Rwanda final yr signed a cope with Canada’s Twin Fluid Vitality for a check reactor that may use liquid gasoline and lead coolant, leading to much less radioactive waste, the Rwanda Atomic Vitality Board stated in a press release at the moment. Officers stated the nation has a aim of a minimum of 1 GW of nuclear energy technology by 2031.
Winnie Ndubai, NuPEA’s director of technique and planning, advised Kenya’s Senate Vitality Committee that two coastal places are being thought-about as potential websites. Native media have reported that the proposed plant can be inbuilt Kilifi County, a area identified for its seashores and dense mangrove forests, and one of many nation’s high vacationer locations. Ndubai stated officers are nonetheless engaged on a regulatory framework for nuclear energy within the nation.
The 1,860-MW Koeberg plant close to Cape City in South Africa is the one working nuclear energy plant on the African continent. Russia’s state-owned Rosatom nuclear group is constructing the four-unit El Dabaa energy station in Egypt, with the primary of 4 VVER-1200 reactors anticipated to enter operation in 2026.
Authorities officers in Uganda final week stated that nation is pursuing plans to construct an 8.4 GW nuclear energy station within the jap Buyende District. The nation stated it’s engaged on a nuclear cooperation settlement with Russia. South Korean vitality corporations even have stated they wish to export their expertise to Africa.
Lengthy-Time period Vitality Wants
Kenyan officers have stated the nation wants nuclear energy is important to fulfill its long-term vitality wants. The Ministry of Vitality has estimated that energy demand in Kenya may improve 20-fold by mid-century resulting from speedy industrial growth. The nation at present generates about 90% of its electrical energy from renewable sources, together with geothermal, hydro, wind and photo voltaic.
Native media earlier this yr stated the nuclear energy plant can be a 1,000-MW facility that may price about 500 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.7 billion). Prime Cupboard Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in August of this yr stated a analysis reactor can be commissioned by the early 2030s.
“Kenya is dedicated to main in clear vitality. Kenya is concentrated on advancing nuclear expertise as a part of Kenya’s sustainable vitality technique,” Mudavadi stated in a press release.
Questions stay concerning the viability of nuclear energy in Kenya as a result of the federal government has but to launch detailed plans for an influence station. Officers additionally haven’t introduced a contractor for the challenge. Some teams, together with Greenpeace, have stated a nuclear energy plant shouldn’t be constructed, urging extra funding in renewable vitality sources corresponding to photo voltaic and wind.
The Kenya Anti-Nuclear Alliance in a press release earlier this yr stated, “As a substitute of pursuing a nuclear program that places the lives and livelihoods of our folks in danger, we urge the federal government to spend money on renewable vitality sources which might be safer, cleaner, and extra sustainable.”
Kenya, together with Nigeria, joined the “Declaration to Triple Nuclear Vitality” on the latest COP29 United Nations local weather convention in Baku, Azerbaijan. The technique is a pledge to extend international nuclear energy capability by 300% by 2050. Ghana and Morocco, two different African nations, signed the declaration upon its launch final yr.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
