Kenya to Build Sh540 Billion Nuclear Power Plant

Kenya is set to become the second country on the continent to have a nuclear power plant. 

The government plans to build the $5 billion (Sh540 billion) plant on a site in Tana River County over the next seven years, according to the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB).

KNEB revealed the plan in a regulatory filing with the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), Business Daily reported.

The State agency indicated that the plant whose construction will be funded through private investors under a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement, will be able to generate 1,000 megawatts (Mw) of power in the initial stages.

“The financing aspect of the Nuclear Power Plant is among the plans underway with a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) being the most preferred financing agreement with the concessionaire that shall come on board,” KNEB said in its plans.

China, Russia, South Korea, and Slovakia are among the notable sponsors-to-be of the plant—which will become the country’s most expensive infrastructural project overtaking the Standard Gauge Railway, which cost over Sh300 billion.

Initially, KNEB had identified Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana basins as the possible sites for the plant but eventually settled on Tana River because it is not prone to earthquakes.

If the project is actualized, Kenya will join South Africa as the only African nations with nuclear power plants.

Presently, Kenya largely relies on Geothermal power whose production stands at 45 percent ahead of hydropower (28 percent, wind (13 percent), and diesel-run generators (11 percent).

KNEB has warned that runaway corruption could derail the realization of the project and that any compromise on implementation standards for the plant would be a hazard.

“Kenya is at a risk due to the expected investment of Ksh500 billion into the Nuclear Power Plant if the current issues of run-away corruption are not curtailed, which may lead to massive public economic loss due to possible implementation delays and overruns as experienced in other mega projects in the country,” the agency states.
“The vice has the potential of exposing the country to national safety and security risks.”