Burkina and ROSATOM Experts Discuss Nuclear Power Infrastructure

Experts from Burkina and the Russian company ROSATOM discuss the assessment and development of nuclear infrastructure in Burkina Faso. This online meeting with Russian experts was being held this Tuesday, November 12, 2024.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Salif Boussim, Chief of Staff of the Minister in charge of Energy in Burkina Faso. On the sidelines of this meeting, Dr. Alidou Koutou, Director General of Energy, suggested that no site has yet been chosen to house this nuclear power plant, much less the date of a possible launch of construction work. He nevertheless reassures that this meeting will allow all these aspects to be addressed.

At the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow in July 2023 , the President of Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, expressed Burkina Faso’s desire to build a nuclear power plant in order to fill the energy deficit. This announcement was followed by the signing of a memorandum between the Russian company ROSATOM and the Ministry of Energy.

As part of this collaboration, the two sides agreed on a roadmap in March 2024 which resulted in the signing of three new memoranda covering respectively cooperation in the assessment and development of nuclear infrastructure, training in the field of nuclear energy industry and public awareness in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

“Following these three signatures, it was requested to set up three joint working groups to decide on these three themes. And these three groups were set up and this morning’s work constitutes the work of the group which should decide on the evaluation and development of the nuclear power plant, jointly with ROSATOM experts. As for the content of the work, we will look in a practical way to make the technical evaluation of the establishment of the plant by following, of course, all the technical, safety and environmental criteria”, specified Dr Alidou Koutou, Director General of Energy.

It is in this dynamic that this current meeting of exchanges on the evaluation and development of nuclear infrastructure in Burkina Faso is held

A meeting that brings together experts from different ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Environment, Health, Security, Defense, Higher Education, Vocational Training, Energy and experts from SONABEL.

This meeting will provide a common understanding on key nuclear infrastructure issues following the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) phased approach to the national nuclear power programme. The meeting is also an opportunity to discuss the IAEA’s role in nuclear infrastructure development and ways to attract relevant agency resources.

It will also provide an opportunity to discuss the activities that should be implemented within the framework of these key issues to form the basis for informed decision-making on nuclear energy in Burkina Faso and for the development of the nuclear power plant project, according to Salif Boussim, Chief of Staff of the Minister in charge of Energy. For him, nuclear technologies are an opportunity to be seized to accelerate Burkina Faso’s energy sovereignty and, therefore, its economic and social development.

According to Dr Alidou Koutou, Director General of Energy, at the end of the discussions, the two parties, Burkinabe and Russian, must be at the same level of information on the technical and security level in order to agree together on a roadmap to achieve the objectives set, namely the construction of the nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso.

Dr Alidou Koutou suggested that no site has yet been chosen to house this nuclear power plant, much less the date of a possible launch of construction work. He nevertheless reassures that this meeting will allow all these aspects to be addressed.

“It will be difficult to give deadlines, because the deadline depends on the proactivity of both parties. We are still ahead of schedule compared to the initial schedule. So we hope to take more to be on schedule. In terms of deadline for the start of work, it will be difficult to give a date.”

“We are making positive progress, compared to the initial schedule, we are well ahead of schedule. The choice of the site is also part of the work in progress. It is the joint group that is in place that will take charge of this aspect, after a technical study taking into account all the aspects that I mentioned earlier. The technical group will take into account all these aspects, the choice of the site, the capacity of the plant, the security issue, all these technical aspects will be managed by the joint group this morning,” he indicated.

Before the meeting of the technical group on the assessment and development of nuclear infrastructure in Burkina on November 12, 2024, the work of the joint group on awareness-raising took place last week, according to Dr. Koutou. And the work continues this Wednesday, November 13, 2024 with the joint working group for the training part.

“In terms of the development of a nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso, there is the training aspect which is really important to take into account to ensure the takeover from start to finish. That is to say, from the study and feasibility part through construction to operation, including also the dismantling of the plant. All these ranges of training will be put on the table from tomorrow to assess the needs in terms of financial and human resource capacities to ensure the proper functioning of the operation and the good security of the plant at the right time,” explained Dr. Alidou Koutou, Director General of Energy.

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(Featured image by distelAPPArath via Pixabay)

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