Kenya is on track to start construction on its first nuclear power plant by 2027, with electricity generation to begin by 2034, officials from the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency NuPEA said at a parliamentary hearing last week.
NuPEAs director of strategy and planning, Winnie Ndubai, told the Senate Energy Committee that the search for a suitable site had been narrowed to two coastal locations, while progress was continuing on building a nuclear regulatory framework.
Currently, only one nuclear power station the Koeburg plant near Cape Town in South Africa is in operation on the whole African continent. Another is being built by Russian company Rosatom in Egypt, with the first of four reactors set to come online in 2026.
The Kenyan government believes that nuclear power is essential to meet its long-term energy needs. The Ministry of Energy estimates that power demand will rise by 20 times by 2050 amid rapid industrial development.
While Kenya has been laying the groundwork for nuclear energy for several years, the realism of the timeline for construction is questionable, given that it is yet to complete detailed plans or select a contractor for the project.
