Russia and Ethiopia signed an action plan for the planning and construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) on September 25 at the World Atomic Week international forum taking place in Moscow. The agreement was signed by Aleksei Likhachev, director of Russia’s state owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, and Ashebir Balcha, CEO of Ethiopian Electric Company. The action plan includes creating a detailed construction plan and a “roadmap” for the technical and economic foundation for the nuclear project, and an intergovernmental agreement to proceed.
The signing of the agreement follows an announcement by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) inauguration on September 9, that Ethiopia plans to build a nuclear power plant that would be “equal to the GERD” in its scale and importance.
Ethiopia has been developing a nuclear program with the support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has signed cooperation agreements with other countries, including Russia. They plan to have a Russian built NPP comprising two units, each with a capacity of 1200 MW, operational between 2032 and 2034. They are also considering small modular reactors (SMRs) as well.
World Atomic Week is taking place over September 25-28 with many heads of state and government and experts throughout the world. Those attending include President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Acting President of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, Vice President of Iran Mohammad Eslami, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev, and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, The meeting was moderated by Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the keynote address.
