Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom is in advanced talks to supply floating nuclear power plants to Egypt, Togo, Namibia, and Tanzania, the company’s CEO Alexei Likhachev said on October 28 at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, according to Reuters.
Vladimir Aptekarev, deputy head of Rosatom’s machine-building division, commented that 38 of Africa’s more than 50 countries have sufficient coastlines to host Russian-made floating nuclear power units.
Rosatom is proposing to supply the plants under power purchase agreements (PPAs), with servicing and refueling carried out in Russia, while units could operate for up to 60 years, the company said.
The company is offering floating power units with a capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), using RITM-200M reactors adapted for warm climates.
The units can be towed to their destinations and require less onshore infrastructure than conventional nuclear power plants.
Likhachev said the prospect of deploying a floating nuclear power plant in Egypt could gain momentum following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi scheduled for October 28.
Rosatom is already building Egypt’s first nuclear power plant at El Dabaa. The project comprises four 1,200-MW VVER-1200 reactors.
On October 11, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat expected the first shipment of nuclear fuel for the operation of the El Dabaa plant to arrive in May 2027.
