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Part 1 of 2 Parts
Russia is working hard to sell nuclear technology to nations in Africa. Part of the push for sales is simply the desire to bring in more money. Another reason for the push is to extend Russia’s political influence in Africa.
Rwanda’s parliament has just announced approval of a plan for Russia’s state-owned Rosatom nuclear conglomerate to construct a nuclear research center with a research reactor in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The proposed Center of Nuclear Science and Technologies is scheduled for completion by 2024. It will include nuclear research labs and a small research reactor that will be able to generate up to ten megawatts.
Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia have also signed similar deals with Rosatom. Ghana, Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed less ambitious cooperative agreements with Rosatom. Russia has been aggressively courting African nations since the early part of this century. Western sanctions first imposed on Russia in 2014 because of its annexation of the Crimea in the Ukraine have forced Russia to seek alternative revenue streams and new friends.
Ovigwe Eguegu is a geopolitics analyst with the international affairs platform, Afripolitika. He said, “For Putin to remain relevant in Russia, he really has to ensure that Russia has a big influence. That's why he is looking at African markets so he has more parties to partner with when it comes to international issues.”
There are fifty-four nations in Africa. This is more than one fourth of the nations who are members of the United Nations. The African nations compose the largest single voting block in the U.N. The old Soviet Union maintained a close relationship with some African states during its Cold War with the U.S. Now, Russia’s trade balance with African is only one tenth of China’s trade balance. It needs to find other ways of extending its influence on the African continent. Eguegu said in an interview, “Russia is using the tools that they have to expand their influence and right now, Russia has lots of experience in the nuclear energy area.”
Rosatom is the biggest nuclear company in the world with respect to foreign orders for nuclear technology. While it does have a few projected in developed nations such as Finland and Hungary, most of its foreign projects are in developing nations. The Rosatom packages are popular in poorer nations because the enormous size of the company means that it can offer comprehensive nuclear deals including training local workers, supplying uranium for the life of the plant, dealing with nuclear wastes generated by the nuclear reactors and developing nuclear science curricula for these nations’ colleges and universities.
The ultimate projected cost and manner for financing for the proposed Rwandan nuclear research center has not been made public. It is known that Russia is providing a twenty five-billion-dollar loan to Egypt that will cover eighty-five percent of the cost of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant currently under construction by Rosatom. A report titled Atoms for Africa from the 2018 Center for Global Development said that “Rosatom has come to dominate nuclear exports to developing countries because of their generous financing and worker training.”
Please read Part 2 next