Nuclear energy key to Africa’s industrialization

Nuclear energy could become a cornerstone of Africa’s industrialization ambitions, with experts urging countries to collaborate on developing nuclear programs in order to share costs, reduce risks and accelerate access to reliable electricity.

They emphasized that Africa’s rapidly growing economies will require stable, large-scale power generation that goes beyond existing renewable sources if the continent is to industrialize.

They argued that cooperation among African countries — through shared financing models, joint training programs and regional planning — could help overcome the high capital costs and technical complexity associated with nuclear power projects.

Shared challenges

Although accounting for nearly 20 percent of the world’s population, Africa only generates about 3 percent of the world’s electricity, with hundreds of millions of people still lacking access to electricity. South Africa is the only country on the continent with an operational nuclear power plant.

Lassina Zerbo, chairman of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board, said nuclear energy will offer a stable and climate-resilient baseload, noting that demand for reliable electricity is rising faster than what solar and hydropower can offer in many African countries.

“I don’t see Africa developing or industrializing without nuclear energy,” he said, stressing that nuclear power is a long-term necessity rather than a short-term option.

Essowe Georges Barcola, Togo’s minister of economy and finance, said nuclear energy is a vector of development. “Beyond electricity, it touches on the health sector, agriculture and many other domains,” he said.

Barcola said many African countries already struggle to finance conventional infrastructure projects, making the high upfront costs of nuclear investment particularly challenging.

He said investors typically assess macroeconomic stability and institutional credibility before committing funds, with some also consulting regional financial institutions such as the West African Development Bank to evaluate a country’s investment climate.

To address the challenges, Barcola advocated for a sub-regional approach to nuclear development, allowing countries to pool resources and share risks.

Serge Ekue, president of the West African Development Bank, said development finance institutions have a critical role to play in absorbing risks that the private sector is often unwilling or unable to bear, including construction, regulatory and currency risks.

He noted that the debt-to-GDP ratios in many African countries are approaching or exceeding the 17 percent threshold commonly considered sustainable, with some countries surpassing 100 percent.

“It means that most of our countries cannot be entrusted to the private sector alone,” Ekue said.

Valerie Levkov, vice-president for infrastructure at the World Bank Group, said access to abundant and affordable baseload power is essential for creating jobs and supporting industrial growth across the continent.

She said the World Bank is exploring ways to support nuclear energy planning alongside broader industrial development strategies, particularly those focused on expanding value addition in Africa’s minerals and metals sectors.

“If countries want more value addition and industrial development, they will need more power,” Levkov said, emphasizing that energy planning must be integrated with broader economic strategies.

She identified weak demand as one of the persistent challenges in electricity development, describing it as a “chicken-and-egg” problem in which power plants are difficult to finance without sufficient demand, while industrial growth cannot occur without adequate power supply.

To break that cycle, Levkov said countries must plan electricity generation and industrial expansion simultaneously.

Infrastructure needs

Another major obstacle is inadequate grid infrastructure. While power generation in Africa has increasingly attracted private investment to the continent, she said transmission networks remain underdeveloped and largely controlled by state utilities.

Levkov noted that a stable grid is particularly important for nuclear energy, not only for power distribution but also for safety and operational reliability.

She added that institutional capacity is equally critical, saying countries must establish independent nuclear regulators, safety authorities and research facilities before launching nuclear power programs.

Loyiso Tyabashe, group chief executive officer of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, said sustainable development is impossible without adequate power generation.

“The concern by the investment fraternity is always about stranded assets, but there are no current stranded-generation assets in Africa,” he said.

Tyabashe argued that Africa already possesses much of the engineering expertise required for nuclear development and should move quickly to build the power infrastructure needed for long-term industrial growth.

“We need to get going. We can’t afford to procrastinate. We can’t afford to delay. Ours is to focus and start delivering those projects,” he said.

Tyabashe added that skills development follows projects, noting that African engineers have previously migrated to support nuclear programs abroad, including in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn