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Nuclear power is key to bolstering energy security in Africa, but its rollout on the continent requires workforce training and safety regulations, according to a leading industry expert. The Iran war has injected fresh urgency into the need for homegrown energy solutions on the continent, as fuel deliveries via the Strait of Hormuz have been disrupted and exposed market vulnerabilities in import-dependent economies.
The renewed interest in nuclear has, however, revealed a series of challenges African nations face when developing atomic energy, namely around financing, grid capacity, and – crucially – expertise. “They need two things right away: They need to train the workforce, and they need to train safety regulators,” said Daniel Poneman, co-chair of the independent US-based organization, the Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition, at the Aspen Security Forum last week, referring to what countries on the continent require.
Nuclear power remains limited in Africa. South Africa has the continent’s only working reactors, while Egypt is building four with Russian backing. Eight countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda — have plans to introduce new plants, while several more have expressed interest in doing so, according to the International Energy Agency.
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Some 600 million people across Africa currently lack access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. Some experts say that expanding nuclear access on the continent is key to closing that gap, along with powering industrialization. But even in developed countries, deploying nuclear power is complicated, expensive, and comes with long lead times, which can all be major barriers in Africa. At least one of those barriers — financing — was eased by the World Bank last year when it lifted its longstanding ban on nuclear funding.
IEA head Fatih Birol said removing such hurdles is essential to boosting energy security on the continent. “If we want to give support to Africa, we have to give some allowances in terms of concessional funding,” he said, also at the Aspen Security Forum. Africa gets just 3% of total global energy investment, despite having 20% of the world’s population, according to the IEA.
For Poneman, the source of funding is crucial. China and Russia are the main funders of nuclear projects globally — Russia’s order book for nuclear projects around the world is about $200 billion compared to $7.7 billion for the US — giving them a major strategic geopolitical edge. “We’re getting clobbered,” he said.
At the same time, looking into long-term deals may create “strategic dependencies that warrant careful consideration, as they may expose host countries to energy security risks,” Brent Wanner, head of the Power Sector Unit at the IEA, told Semafor. Many projects are structured as partnerships, he said, in which funders provide technology, construction, project management, fuel supply and, in some cases, financing support. “Nuclear energy is not a one‐off investment, but a multigenerational commitment,” he added.
An additional challenge for nuclear deployment is grid capacity, since large nuclear reactors often produce too much power for underdeveloped grids. “New delivery models like Small Modular Reactors may be well suited to African countries due to the electricity-grid-to-SMR ratio,” Shah Nawaz Ahmad, senior adviser at the World Nuclear Association, told Semafor. SMRs could also couple with industrial sectors like mining, he added.
Step Back
Before the Iran war, about 600,000 barrels a day of oil products traveled from the Middle East to Africa, including through the Strait of Hormuz. For some countries, those cargoes effectively met all demand, according to Bloomberg.
The loss of those imports exposed the continent’s reliance on overseas crude, and especially refined products. Africa accounts for about 7% of the world’s crude output, but its refining capacity has shrunk dramatically over the past two decades.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is seeking to reverse that trend. He announced plans to open a new refinery in East Africa, which will be his second on the continent after his 650,000 barrels-a-day facility in Lagos.
As crucial as this is to Africa’s energy mix, fuel imports will remain essential for many African nations. Adding nuclear to the mix to offset some of that reliance can help lower “exposure to price volatility, and mitigating long-term supply risks,” the IEA’s Wanner said.
The View From South Africa
South Africa has the only nuclear reactors in sub-Saharan Africa, but the atomic energy program has been controversial. A newly planned project faced widespread backlash and legal challenges from environmental groups who cited safety and economic risks.
Pretoria has laid out a $120 billion-plus energy roadmap aimed at stabilizing the country’s electricity grid and transitioning away from the nation’s longstanding reliance on coal. The nuclear component could target 5,200 MW of new generation capacity by 2039, or about a tenth of the nation’s electricity.
The plan faces other challenges too. The government will have to lure back engineers working abroad to expand the country’s nuclear sector. Many of those skilled workers live in the United Arab Emirates, which hired large numbers of local engineers during the build-out of its Barakah Nuclear Plant over the last decade.
Notable
- Kenya is also facing resistance as it seeks to build out nuclear power in the country, especially from local communities who say they do not want the project in their backyard.
Additional reporting by Mohammed Sergie.