Consultation talks are ongoing between the government of Nigeria and Rasatom, a Russian company, to put up nuclear power plants in Nigeria. For decades, the country has been battling inadequate power supply, which has largely affected its economy growth. The deal would see the company design, construct, operate and decommission the plants at US$80bn, with the first expected to be operational in 2025.
According to the Chief Executive of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, nuclear power promises a long term power supply as compared to what has been experienced in the past years. About 80% of the country’s power plants are gas-fired.
According to the statement issued by the company’s spokesperson, the company has intergovernmental agreement with the government of Nigeria but no final decisions have been made yet. The company has also revealed that, one nuclear plant can cost between US$5bn to US$8bn
Furthermore, the company has successfully executed several nuclear power plants or projects in different parts of the world including the recent project the company is about to carry out. This includes putting up a nuclear power plant in Hungary, building reactors in India, Kazakhstan and more reactors in Iran.
Presently, Nigeria host about 170million people, with a power installation capacity of about 7000MW, which is 7 times greater than that of South Africa, this is according to a report issued by one of the country’s transmission company. The country is targeting to generate 40, 000MW by 2020.
Two years ago, the country broke its single cartel on power generation and privatizes a couple of its power stations with an aim of attracting foreign investors but this made the power crisis to abduct a slow progression given that several old plants that were sold back in 2013 are desperately in need of mechanical attention as inadequate gas supply has lead the plants to be dormant.
The country has also been boosting power supply by construction of more power plants, including recent agreement for a 500MW coal-fired power plant in Enugu, Nigeria by One Nation Energy Platform Ltd.
