Africa Must Be Guided By Chernobyl Disaster
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Leaders of African governments are keenly interested in adopting nuclear energy to end chronic power deficit but some maybe forced either to keep on postponing or completely abandon the project primarily due to lack of finance or credit guarantees.
Within
the framework of 2018 BRICS summit held in Johannesburg, South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa told his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at a
bilateral meeting that South Africa was not ready to renew the agreement
on the construction of nuclear power plants in South Africa.
Putin
raised the subject of a nuclear deal at a private meeting with
Ramaphosa, but his host said Pretoria could not sign such the deal for
now. Ramaphosa has put nuclear expansion on the back burner since taking
office as president, saying "it is too expensive" and has focused
instead on election campaign pledges to revive the economy and crack
down on corruption.
Ramaphosa
said "We have to look at where the economy is – we have excess power
and we have no money to go for a major nuclear plant building. The
nuclear process has be looked at in the broad context of affordability."
Under
Jacob Zuma, South Africa championed plans to build as many as eight
reactors that would generate 9,600 megawatts of energy starting from
2023 and cost as much as US$84 billion – a programme critics say the
country can't simply afford and doesn't absolutely need.
There
is only one nuclear power plant on the entire African continent,
namely, Koeberg nuclear power station in South Africa. Commissioned in
1984, Koeberg provides nearly 2,000 megawatts which is about 5% of
installed electricity generation in South Africa.
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated, as always, in an interview
with the Hommes d'Afrique magazine posted to the ministry's official
website, that Russia and African countries were cooperating on high
technology and Russia is highly committed to contributing towards
sustainable development in Africa.
According
to him, "Rosatom is considering a number of projects that are of
interest to Africans, for instance the creation of a nuclear research
and technology centre in Zambia. Nigeria has a similar project. There
are good prospects for cooperation with Ghana, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
Talks are underway on the construction of a nuclear power plant in South
Africa."
Foreign
and local Russian media reported that Russia wanted to turn nuclear
energy into a major export industry. It has signed several agreements
with as many as 14 African countries with no nuclear tradition,
including Rwanda and Zambia, and is set to build a large nuclear plant
in Egypt.
"Indeed,
Rwanda has just joined the chorus by signing an MOU with the Russians
to build a nuclear power plant. This is something of a joke. How will
this be financed? Rwanda's annual budget is US$3 billion. A nuclear
power plant will cost not less than US$9 billion which is equivalent to
Rwanda's entire Gross Domestic Product," David Himbara, Rwandan-Canadian
Professor of International Development at Canada's Centennial College,
told me in an emailed interview query.
Professor
Himbara said that Rwandan President Paul Kagame always believed that he
must validate his supposedly visionary and innovative leadership by
pronouncing grand projects that rarely materialized.
Nonetheless,
Ghana has also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the State Atomic
Energy Corporation of the Federation of Russia for the construction of a
nuclear power plant. The plant will produce up 1,200 megawatts.
The
Russian reactor will cost a minimum of US$4.2 billion. The financing
scheme has not been finalized. It will take about eight to ten years
from site feasibility studies to commissioning of the first unit.
The
International Atomic Energy Agency's 2017 Report concluded that Ghana
is still in an early phase of developing nuclear energy. So far, Ghana
has enacted a comprehensive nuclear law, established an independent
Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
In
the case of Zambia, under the agreement that was concluded in December
2016 to build a nuclear deal worth US$10 billion. Shadreck Luwita,
Zambian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, informed that the
processes of design, feasibility study and approvals regarding the
project have almost been concluded.
The
Zambian Government hopes that upon commissioning of this project,
excess power generated from this plant could be made available for
export to neighbouring countries under the Southern African Development
Community Power Pool framework arrangement, he said.
Late
February 2020, Chairperson of the Federation Council (the Upper House
or the Senate), Valentina Matviyenko, headed a Russian delegation on a
three-day working visit aimed at strengthening parliamentary diplomacy
with Namibia and Zambia.
According
to an official release from the Federation Council, the visit was
within the broad framework mechanism of parliamentary consultations
between Russia and African countries. The key focus are on political
dialogue, economic partnership and humanitarian spheres with Namibia and
Zambia.
The
delegation held talks with held talks with President Edgar Lungu at
State House in Lusaka, Zambia. The delegation referred to their visit
"as a reciprocal visit" and emphasized unreserved commitment to
strengthen political dialogue and then re-affirmed interests in
broadening economic cooperation with Zambia.
There
was an in-depth discussion construction of nuclear plant. Under the
agreement that was concluded in December 2016 on the construction of the
nuclear plant estimated at US$10 billion. The processes of design,
feasibility study and approvals regarding the project concluded. Russia
was unprepared to make financial commitment, and Zambia lacks adequate
funds to finance the project.
Matviyenko
said: "Now the start of the construction of a center for nuclear
science and technology has been suspended due to financial issues. I
would like to say that the request submitted to the Russian president is
being carefully considered by the ministries and departments. I’m
confident that we will jointly find options to promote funding to roll
out the construction of a center for nuclear science and technology."
Of
course, the construction of the nuclear plants will qualitatively
change the economy of Zambia, not only to fully meet its electricity
needs, but also to export it to other southern African countries. The
Zambian government refers to it as revenue generation tool using the
phrase - "this plant could make available for export to neighbouring
countries under the Southern African Development Community Power Pool
framework arrangement."
In
his discussion, Dr. Scott Firsing, a Research Fellow at Monash
University South Africa, says Africa and the world needs nuclear, along
with solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal, for cleaner energy. Africa can
leapfrog outdated technology and help lead a new clean energy
revolution.
He
believes that "nuclear will always have a role in energy generation
because it's the best way of producing large amounts of carbon-free
electricity. The key hindrance is the cost of producing nuclear energy
and how best to deal with nuclear waste so as to maintain safe
environment, the risk that it poses from poor handling and management."
Professor
Stephen Thomas, a Nuclear Economist from the University of Greenwich in
the United Kingdom explains that African countries lack the nuclear
expertise and infrastructure, Most important, they lack the financing
capability. Russia claims to offer finance but that is a claim that has
not been demonstrated outside centrally planned economy.
"Nuclear
power is an expensive diversion from policies that could meet the
objectives of improving the reliability of electricity supplies in
Africa, making power affordable for consumers and meeting environmental
goals," he wrote in an emailed interview.
Thomas
added: "Nuclear is too high an economic risk for countries that cannot
afford to make big mistakes. However, they must be guided by Chernobyl
disaster in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan, millions of people are still
suffering from radiation and radiation related diseases till today."
Currently,
many African countries are facing energy crisis, for both domestic and
industrial use. Energy poverty affects millions of their citizens. Over
620 million in Sub-Saharan Africa out of more than one billion people
still do not have electricity. Industrial sector needs power for its
operations and production for the newly established single continental
market.
It
is in this context that several African countries are exploring nuclear
energy as part of the solution. Russia is on a charm offensive across
Africa signing and re-signing agreements with many governments to build
nuclear power plants.
More
than thirty years Russia has been pushing for post-Soviet relations,
but with energy diplomacy Africans have to wait for another generation.
The dreams of building nuclear plants are far from reality, and will
definitely hold the full realization of the African Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA) and AU Agenda 2063.
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Africa Must Be Guided By Chernobyl Disaster
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Leaders of African governments are keenly interested in adopting nuclear energy to end chronic power deficit but some maybe forced either to keep on postponing or completely abandon the project primarily due t