Nigeria signs pact with Russia's Rosatom to build 4 nuclear power plants

Nigeria is now one step closer to building as many as four nuclear power plants costing some $80bn (£54.7bn, €75.7bn).

The West African nation has signed an agreement with Russia's Rosatom to cooperate on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of an atomic power facility, according to Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, chairman and CEO of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission.

The first nuclear plant will be operational in 2025.

It will be increased to four plants with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts by 2035, with each facility costing $20bn, according to Osaisai, Bloomberg reported. One megawatt can power 2,000 average European homes or nearly 333 in Japan.

Majority stake

Rosatom will hold a majority stake in Nigeria's nuclear facilities while the rest will be owned by the state, with roles to be defined in contractual agreements, Osaisai said.

The plants will be financed by the vendor, which will then build, own, operate and transfer them to the government, he added. The Nigerian government "will enter a power-purchasing agreement for the nuclear plant".

"A joint coordination committee is in place and negotiations are ongoing for financing and contracting. We are meticulously implementing our plans," Osaisai said at a conference in Kenya's Kwale coastal region.

Nigeria's peak electricity output is about 3,800 megawatts, with another 1,500 megawatts unavailable because of gas shortages.

South Africa

Meanwhile, South Africa, which has a third of Nigeria's population and eight times more installed capacity, has also signed an agreement with Rosatom to add 9,600 megawatts of nuclear power to its stressed grid.

South Africa's agreement with Rosatom gave the firm the right to veto the nation doing business with any other nuclear vendor, the Johannesburg-based Mail & Guardian reported in February.

The Russian company has an international portfolio of orders exceeding $100bn, CEO Sergei Kiriyenko said in December 2014.

The African continent's sole nuclear power station is Koeberg in South Africa, owned by state-owned Eskom Holdings SOC.

Opec-member Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer.