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Africa Energy: China, Russia and South Korea In Race To Build Kenya’s Nuclear Plant

Africa Energy: China, Russia and South Korea In Race To Build Kenya’s Nuclear Plant

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea witness the exchange of a memorandum of Understanding (Photo: PSCU)
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea witness the exchange of a memorandum of Understanding (Photo: PSCU)

The mooted framework cooperation agreements, adding to those already made with Nigeria and Ghana, would set out how the parties will cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear science in the medical, agricultural and energy fields, among others.

“This is the first step towards closer ties with Africa and closer cooperation with a view, of course, to some day building nuclear power plants,” Victor Polikarpov, Rosatom’s regional vice-president for Sub-Saharan Africa, was quote by Reuters as having said.

“We want South Africa to become our springboard for the rest of Africa. We want to create a nuclear cluster, a group of companies here that can operate with us in Africa.”

‘Peaceful Use’

Russia pursuit for the nuclear pacts in Africa underline its silent inroads into the continent’s power sector.

On February 18, 2015 a consortium led by Russia’s RT Global Resources won a deal to construct and operate a $2.5 billion regional oil refinery in Uganda.

The Russia-government owned Rostec holds a 100 per cent stake in RT Global Resources which was created to carry out projects involving raw materials and infrastructure development in Russia and abroad.

Members of this consortium include Telconet Capital Ltd Partnership, VTB Capital PLC, Tatneft JSC and GS Engineering & Construction Corporation.

“The process of selecting a lead investor in Uganda’s refinery project has been highly competitive. We are pleased that the two bidders responded to the Request for Final Offers, from which RT Global Resources emerged as the Selected Preferred Bidder. We have confidence that we will execute project agreements and go ahead to develop Uganda’s refinery project” Uganda’s Energy and Mineral Development Minister Irene Muloni said when she announced deal.

The refinery facility, to be developed in phases, is expected to have final output capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, but will start with 30,000 barrels per day capacity.

Britain’s Tullow Oil, French oil major Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are developing Uganda’s fields. The first phase of the refinery is expected to be in place by 2018.

Barely a week before bagging the Uganda refinery contract, Russia signed another energy deal with Egypt.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi on February 10, 2015 announced that Cairo would cooperate with Moscow to see the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, on the second day of President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to the Arab country.

Egypt and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding to build the first nuclear plant in the northern city of El-Dabaa, on the Mediterranean coast west of the port city of Alexandria, where a research reactor has stood for years.

“If final decisions are made, it will mean not just building a nuclear power plant, it means the creation of the entire new atomic industry in Egypt,” Putin told a news conference.

Increasing electricity generation has been a priority for Egypt, long hit by power shortages resulting in frequent blackouts in major cities across the country especially in the summer when hydro dam levels recede substantially.