Zimbabwe’s Energy Minister Soda Zhemu and has reached an intergovernmental agreement with Russia for the peaceful use of atomic energy to meet its energy demands.
This comes following a memorandum of understanding concluded in September 2021 which was signed by Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev.
“It establishes a legal framework for cooperation between Russia and Zimbabwe in the peaceful use of atomic energy in a wide range of areas, such as assistance in the creation and improvement of Zimbabwe’s nuclear infrastructure in accordance with international guidelines; regulation in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, production of radioisotopes and their use in industry, medicine and agriculture; cooperation in areas of application of radiation technologies and nuclear medicine, education, training and retraining of specialists for the nuclear industry,” Rosatom said.
Also on the sidelines of the forum, Ethiopia and Russia agreed on a roadmap for bilateral cooperation in the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
According to Rosatom, “The roadmap defines specific steps that the parties will take in 2023-2025 to explore the possibilities of building a nuclear power plant of large or small capacity, as well as a Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Ethiopia. The parties plan to work together to develop Ethiopia’s national nuclear infrastructure, organise technical tours and seminars, and meetings of specialised working groups.”
In a similar deal on Thursday, Burundi and Russia agreed on cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear technology, including training of personnel and applications such as medicine and agriculture in addition to production of energy.
Apart from South Africa, which has had an operating nuclear energy plant for nearly four decades, the next country in Africa set to get a nuclear power plant is Egypt, where Russia’s Rosatom is currently building the four VVER-1200 unit El Dabaa plant.