Nigeria has selected two sites for its planned nuclear power plants, as it tries to end decades of electricity blackouts that have hindered its growth.
Russia’s state-owned Rosatom, which has been in talks with Nigeria, on Friday confirmed two sites had been selected and said they would have a total of four reactors.
A source at Nigeria’s nuclear agency said the sites will be in Akwa Ibom state, in southeast Nigeria, and Kogi state, in the central northern part of the country. Nigeria, with a population of around 170-million, has installed power capacity that fluctuates between around 6 000 MW to just over 7 000 MW, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, with 80% of its power plants fired by gas. South Africa’s capacity is almost seven times greater for a population less than a third as big.
Nigeria has no experience in developing and operating nuclear plants but has small reactors producing around 30 KW for research the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission said on its website.
One nuclear power plant costs between $5-billion to $8-billion, a source at Rosatom said. Nigeria has not yet said how it plans to fund the construction, given its finances have been affected by the slump in the oil price, its main export.
