Faced with the growing need for energy, Africa is turning to nuclear power – rts.ch

Rwanda, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso and many others could acquire atomic energy. But the most successful project is in Egypt.

The country has started construction of the El Dabaa power plant, equipped with four reactors, in partnership with Rosatom, the Russian public company specializing in nuclear power.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the electricity network only covers one in two people. However, the continent’s population is increasing. There is therefore an urgent need to produce more current.

When it comes to increasing capacity, countries are now moving away from fossil fuels. They saw the importance of diversifying sources, explains in Tout un monde Emmanuelle Galichet, teacher-researcher in nuclear physics at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in Paris.

Among the sources of low-carbon electricity is nuclear power. This is, however, expensive, because the infrastructure necessary for its control is sometimes lacking: “We must establish an industrial ecosystem in the country before we can exploit nuclear energy; and we need employees for exploitation. This therefore means that we also need higher education and professional, technical and scientific education well established in the country”, lists Emmanuelle Galichet.

Chinese and Russian ambitions

These costs are now partly borne by external actors. The United States, Iran, South Korea and even Slovakia are ready to pay for nuclear energy in Africa.

These states sign cooperation agreements to build power plants. However, two players stand out: Russia and China. Both are much more invested and aggressive in the market.

“Africa is today the scene of a clash between Russia and China, whose objective is to sell nuclear reactors to different African countries,” notes Teva Meyer, lecturer in geography at the University of Upper Alsace.

Rosatom very invested

The Russian agency Rosatom goes even further. It builds the power plant and the infrastructure, offers to manage the finances and personnel and even recovers the radioactive waste.

Teva Meyer points to an economic interest. “It also allows you to create links,” he adds. “It can take 100 years between the time of construction of a nuclear reactor and the time of its shutdown. Few infrastructures allow such strong connections,” explains the geographer.

In the African subsoil, a key resource arouses desire: uranium. “Russia sold a nuclear reactor to Egypt with a clause in the contract to explore the country for uranium. This is important, because Russia and China lack this resource for their own internal needs” , notes Teva Meyer.

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A question of geopolitics

Each African country today develops its own foreign policy, often in the name of pragmatism. He thus chooses his investors according to the conditions they offer. And Moscow and Beijing have understood this well.

“Nuclear energy is at the crossroads of geopolitics, politics, science and even innovation. The political interest of these great powers is to move towards a more multipolar world. Having in their fold the “Africa against the United States or NATO is extremely interesting,” says Emmanuelle Galichet.

Teva Meyer notes for her part that announcements of nuclear reactor sales are “geopolitical before being commercial”. He takes the example of Burkina Faso and Mali. The coup regimes which have taken power there in recent years have turned towards Moscow.

When China and Russia try to sell nuclear reactors, they also provide the loans to finance these reactors

According to the geographer, the probability that power plants will be built in these Sahel countries is “extremely low”. But signing a contract allows us to demonstrate political support for these new military governments, he analyzes.

A financial risk

Who says nuclear, obviously says risk management. In terms of security, experts believe that the installations are safe (read in box). For these countries, the main pitfall is perhaps, once again, at the financial level: they could develop multiple dependencies on investors.

Teva Meyer mentions three risks: “The first is operating a nuclear reactor which will produce most of the country’s electricity and therefore potentially have control over the supply. The second dependence is on fuel. When Russia and the China sells nuclear reactors, they also sell, in the contracts, the lifetime supply of fuel (…) The third point is financial dependence When China and Russia try to sell nuclear reactors, they also supply them. loans to finance these reactors. these are loans worth several tens of billions of dollars that the receiving countries are not always able to repay. They can quickly fall into a debt trap, where they have no other solution than to provide access to the funds. infrastructure to China or Russia instead of financially repaying the loans,” he explains.

Moreover, certain populations, in Ghana and Kenya in particular, are already demonstrating against the declared nuclear ambition of their leaders.

Radio subject: Cédric Guigon

Adaptation web : Antoine Michel