Rosatom in talks with Africa on floating nuclear power plants

Russia’s Rosatom is discussing the supply of floating nuclear power plants with African countries. According to Aptekarev, suitable sites for them exist in 38 African countries. As Reuters reports, talks with Egypt, Namibia, Tanzania and Togo are at an advanced stage, according to the company’s CEO Alexei Likhachev.

Floating nuclear plants use smaller reactors and are mounted on vessels, so they require less infrastructure than land-based stations and cost less. Currently only one such plant operates in the world — in Russia’s Chukotka region, where it was launched in 2020.

Rosatom is offering African countries a programme under which individual units would be serviced and refuelled in Russia. This would allow them to operate for up to sixty years.

“A floating nuclear power plant can be a good entry point that lets a country meet its energy needs and join the nuclear club. With this source of electricity we answer practically all the key problems and challenges facing the African continent,” Aptekarev said.

In addition, Rosatom is building only the second nuclear power plant in Africa, in Egypt. The first is in South Africa and was built in the mid-1980s using French technology.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz