Nigeria announced a bid

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AtomInfo.Ru, PUBLISHED 22.03.2022

Nigeria opened a bid for the construction of a nuclear power plant with a total power of 4 GWe. This was reported by several Nigerian media at once.

The total installed power of power plants in Nigeria is now 12.522 GW. These are mainly plants operating on fossil fuels and hydroelectric power plants. Thus, the nuclear power plant construction project, if successfully implemented, can increase the Nigerian fleet by about a third.

The public announcement of the bid was made by Director General of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) Yau Idris. He did not provide any details.

The Nigerian power industry dates back to 1886, when the first 60 kW power plant was built in Lagos. Interest in nuclear power in the country arose in the 1970s, but to date, only one research reactor NIRR-1 has been built in Nigeria with the help of Chinese specialists.

In 2008, plans were announced in Nigeria to build the first nuclear unit with a thousand megawatt reactor "in 10 years." But a year later, the country started talking about the need to create proper infrastructure first.

In March 2009, NNRA and Rosatom signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy.

And in 2012, the memorandum grew into a framework agreement providing for cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plants. Around the same time, there were also plans to build four nuclear units in Nigeria by 2035 for about $20 billion.

In addition to agreements with Russia, Nigeria also has cooperation agreements with Pakistan, France and South Korea. But in practice, no one has yet started building blocks in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Nigerian electricity industry is becoming more complicated. So, on March 14, 2022, there was a power outage throughout the country due to the inability of generating companies to meet demand.

Capacity shortage is not Nigeria's only problem. IfeOluwa Oyedele, chief executive of utility company Niger Delta Power Holding Company, warns of aging transmission and distribution systems.

Oyedele believes that the Nigerian grid is only capable of supporting loads of up to 5 GW. Anything above this value causes the network to collapse.

Topics: Africa, Nigeria

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