Nairobi hails ‘significant progress’ in development of infrastructure
Kenya has unveiled plans for the development of a nuclear power programme over the next five years that would see it allocate $83m (€76m) by 2027 towards the cost of its first nuclear research reactor.
The Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NUPEA), the state agency leading the country’s nuclear power programme, said the research reactor could be commissioned between 2030 and 2034 and would be a stepping stone towards full commercial nuclear power production.
It said the initial five-year budget for the overall nuclear programme is $273m. This would include nuclear infrastructure development, stakeholder engagement, research and innovation, energy capacity development and a research reactor programme.
In January Kenya said it had made significant progress in the development of nuclear infrastructure for the research reactor.
The African nation has been planning a commercial nuclear station for several years as part of its ambition to move to clean energy and increase energy generation as demand rises in the nation of more than 55 million – a number that is growing by about 2% a year.
In 2022 it was reported that the government had picked Kilifi and Kwale as the two sites best suited for nuclear energy. Kilifi is on the coast about 70 km north of Mombasa. Kwale is inland to the southwest of Mombasa.
