Impatient to boost electricity supplies for homes and businesses alike, Ethiopia and other African nations are doing deals paving the way to nuclear power plants
For now, South Africa is the only country on the continent operating a nuclear power plant.
But in recent years, at least seven other sub-Saharan African states have signed agreements to deploy nuclear power with backing from Russia, according to public announcements and the World Nuclear Association (WNA), an industry body.
Ethiopia’s memorandum ofunderstanding on nuclear cooperation with Russia paves the way for the construction of a nuclear power plant and a research reactor in the long term, said Frehiwot Woldehanna, Ethiopia’s state minister for the energy sector.
The East African country has been electrifying rapidly to meet rising energy demand and its own goal to become the biggest power exporter on the continent, while sticking to pledges to remain a low emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Under a 2015-2020 development plan, Addis Ababa wants to raise power generation to more than 17,000 megawatts (MW) from current capacity of just over 4,200 MW, mainly by harnessing hydro, wind and geothermal sources.