25 Jun (NucNet): Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom has signed an agreement that could lead to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Ghana.
Rosatom said in a statement that the memorandum of cooperation provides for “a number of specific areas of the cooperation” including creating the infrastructure to support the development of nuclear energy in the west African country.
A working group will be established to study potential joint projects and a draft framework agreement on areas of cooperation will be prepared, Rosatom said.
The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission has said nuclear power could provide at least 10 percent of the country’s installed capacity by 2020.
Ghana has no existing commercially operational nuclear units, but since 1994 has been operating a small Chinese research reactor known as the Ghana Research Reactor-1, or GHARR-1.
In August 2011, Rosatom finalised a draft inter-governmental agreement to cooperate on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of Nigeria’s first nuclear power plant.
Rosatom said last week it is building 28 reactors worldwide and in the next 20 years plans to buy equipment and services for nuclear facilities worth more than $300 billion (238 billion euro).
