By Fredrick Njehu
The Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) has announced that it has contracted a Chinese firm, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), to determine the most suitable location for the construction of Kenya’s first nuclear power plant in the next eight to ten years.
The Chinese contractor has narrowed down the site to three possible locations in Lake Turkana, Lake Victoria, and the Indian Ocean as the most ideal. The characterization study will cost the taxpayer Sh1.5 billion while the total cost of building a nuclear power plant is estimated at $5 billion (Sh512.7 billion) and is estimated to take at least five years.
In September 2018, Kenya had postponed the plan to build the Sh968 billion nuclear power plant by nine years to 2036 in favor of renewable energy projects. The revised and updated least cost development plan 2017-2037 by the Ministry of Energy projected that the earliest the country can build the nuclear plant is 2036.
All energy sources were considered in the system expansion planning. It was noted that nuclear was not brought on board in both optimized and fixed medium-term priorities (MTP) cases…read more>>
