NEWS: Kogi, Akwa Ibom to host Nigeria’s nuclear power plants

The federal government has selected Kogi and Akwa Ibom States as sites for Nigeria’s planned nuclear power plants, as the authorities seek to end decades of electricity blackouts that have blighted the nation’s growth.

Russia’s state-owned Rosatom, which has been in talks with Nigeria over the nuclear plants, confirmed at the weekend that there would be four reactors in all, two in each location.

Nigeria currently has installed power capacity that fluctuates between around 6,000 MW to just over 7,000 MW, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, with 80 percent of its power plants fired by gas.

It has no experience in developing and operating nuclear plants but has small reactors producing around 30 KW for research, Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, chief executive of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, said on its website.

One nuclear power plant costs between $5 billion to $8 billion, a source at Rosatom said.

Nigeria has not yet said how it plans to fund the construction, a key question given its finances have taken a hit after a slump in the price of oil, its main export.