China to help Sudan develop first nuclear plant

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

China and Sudan have signed a framework agreement for the construction of the east African country's first nuclear power plant.  

The signing of the framework agreement (Image: CNNC)

The agreement was signed yesterday in Khartoum by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) chairman Sun Qin and Moataz Moussa, Sudan's Minister of Water Resources and Electricity. The signing of the framework agreement came during a three-day visit to Sudan by a Chinese delegation led by Nur Bekri, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission's National Energy Bureau.

Ministry spokesman Mohamed Abdelrahim Jawish was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying, "The agreement will allow Sudan to build in the future a nuclear plant to generate nuclear energy for peaceful use. This preliminary agreement was signed on Monday and we are now talking of capacities."

Sudan - one of China's main suppliers of oil - was on the list of priorities for Chinese reactor sales in a State Council (cabinet) Energy Development Strategic Action Plan 2014-2020.

Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mines initiated a nuclear power program in 2007, and in 2010 the country started considering the feasibility of a nuclear power plant. At that time, Sudan was envisaging a nuclear plant with four 300-600 MWe units operating by 2030.

The country's Atomic Energy Commission has been consulting the International Atomic Energy Agency on introducing nuclear energy.

In July 2015, the government's Geological Research Authority said that uranium exploration was a high priority and that any mining would be undertaken by Russian companies.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed last September, China General Nuclear and the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board are to discuss CGN's Hualong 1 technology, and carry out comprehensive cooperation in nuclear power development and capacity building in neighbouring Kenya. This will include research and development, construction, operation, fuel supply, nuclear safety, nuclear security, radioactive waste management and decommissioning.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News