Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the East African nation is considering the use of modular nuclear plants as the continent looks to increase access to electricity.
(Bloomberg) — Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the East African nation is considering the use of modular nuclear plants as the continent looks to increase access to electricity.
“Some partners have brought up the idea of modular nuclear reactors,” Kagame said in an interview at the Columbia Global Energy Summit in New York that was broadcast online. “This is a new idea and we want to encourage it — in fact we are talking to the partners to see what we can do in Rwanda that will influence similar developments elsewhere.”
About 600 million people on the continent lack access to electricity, while demand is expected to grow in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, according to the IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook 2022.
The lack of access is a problem, but also an opportunity, Kagame said.
He also noted a “huge imbalance” between the continent, which is responsible for about 3% of global emissions, and foreign countries that rushed to Africa for fossil fuels after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “First we need energy and then from there we can talk about what type and how,” he said.
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