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Russia Confirms Nuclear Talks With Nigeria But No Deal Yet

Russia Confirms Nuclear Talks With Nigeria But No Deal Yet

From EngineeringNews. Story by Keith Campbell.

Russian state-owned nuclear group Rosatom has confirmed that it is in talks to build nuclear power plants in Nigeria, but has denied that any agreement has been signed.

This follows a recent report in Nigerian media that the company is building four nuclear power plants in Nigeria.

“A week ago Rosatom had a series of meetings with the Coordination Committee of Nigeria that is in charge of implementing (the) nuclear program regarding the project of construction of nuclear power plants, but no documents were signed, thus it is too early to comment on or confirm any concrete project details,” the company told Engineering News Online.

On Wednesday, Nigeria’s Daily Independent newspaper reported that Nigeria had launched a program to buy four nuclear power plants from Rosatom, with a total generating capacity of 4800 megawatts. It stated that the first nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 1200 megawatts, would start operation in 2025, and the last would be commissioned by 2035.

The newspaper cited, as its source, a speech by Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission chairman and CEO Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, delivered at a conference in Kenya. The newspaper further reported that the nuclear power plants would be built and operated by a partnership between the Russian group and Nigeria, with Rosatom having a majority shareholding.

Bloomberg reported that the total cost of the program would be around $20-billion and that each nuclear power plant would cost some $5-billion.

Read more at EngineeringNews.