Kenya postpones construction of US $10-bn nuclear power plant

The government of Kenya has postponed its plan to build nuclear power plant worth US $10 bn by nine years to 2036 in favour of renewable energy projects and coal plant.

The Ministry of Energy confirmed the reports through an updated power development plan which showed the earliest the country can commence with the nuclear plant plans is 2036 and not 2027 as initially planned.

In the revised plan, the first unit is expected to be completed in 2036, followed by another in 2037, making it the last project in the ministry’s 20-year plan for power generation expansion. “All energy sources were considered in the system expansion planning. However, it is noteworthy that nuclear was not brought on board in both optimised and fixed MTP cases,” reads the updated plan shared by the Ministry.

Additionally the country has also scaled down the plan size.  Kenya was to construct two nuclear power plants, each with a capacity of 1,000MW at a total cost of $4.05 billion per plant. The new plan is to have each plant with a capacity of 600MW at a cost of US $4.84 bn.

Kenya joins South Africa, which in August cancelled plans to add 9,600 MW of nuclear power by 2030 and will instead aim to add more capacity in natural gas, wind and other energy sources.