Kenya has decided the area where the first nuclear power plant will be built in its history and in the whole of East Africa.
The plant, which will have an initial capacity of 1000 MW, in the intentions of the Kenya National Electricity Board will be installed in an area of Tana River County.
The choice was motivated by the KNEB for the presence of the reservoir essential for cooling the plant but also (in contention there was the Turkana region and another possible site would be on Lake Victoria) to be one of the geological areas less prone to earthquakes.
The entire project has been quantified in 5 billion dollars and its construction should be completed in 2027, with the indispensable support of private funding.
The Kenyan Government also plans to quadruple the plant's capacity by 2035 with a construction, management and relocation model.
The KNEB plan will be subject to public control before the NEMA environmental control authority, to which it has already been sent for the environmental compatibility study, can approve it and pave the way for the continuation of the project.
As reported in Business Daily Africa magazine, Kenya considers nuclear power both as a long-term solution to the high fuel costs incurred during periods of drought when using diesel generators and as an effective way to reduce carbon emissions from the power generation sector. The KNEB said private funding for the nuclear power plant would ease the burden on Kenya's public coffers. The estimated cost of the nuclear power plant is almost half of the government's annual tax revenue.
"The financial aspect of the nuclear power plant is among the ongoing plans, with a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) which is the most preferred financing arrangement with the concessionaire who will come on board," the agency wrote in the statement submitted to the Environmental Monitoring Body.
The project involves the construction of a "third generation" plant with pressurized water reactors. The nuclear reactors require reliable sources of water for steam condensation, service water, emergency cooling system and other functions.
The doubts about the construction of the plant are obviously environmental and mainly related to national security, but the Nuclear Agency of Kenya has asked the Government to sign Memoranda of Understanding with countries such as China, Russia, South Korea and Slovakia for the know-how and safe development of the future plant.
In sub-Saharan Africa only South Africa has a nuclear power plant, not far from Cape Town.