Last July 2017, Rosatom participated in Power-Gen Africa and exhibited its ambition in the continent. A couple of months ago, Russia and Sudan signed a cooperation agreement in the field of nuclear power, which is only a small part of the Russian economic and military strategy in Sudan.
While Rosatom is committed in the Southern part of Africa, and participate to the nuclear programs of Nigeria and South Africa, the Russian group exhibited more “playground” in Zambia and Sudan during Atomexpo 2018 in Sochi.
Zambia
The Republic of Zambia signed a general contract for the construction of a Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST). Construction of the Centre is the first joint project of Russia and Zambia in the field of nuclear technologies. It will enable country to become one of the leading players in nuclear technologies application in the Central and Southern African region. The center will be located 10 kilometers away from the capital of Zambia, Lusaka. The CNST will include a nuclear research facility based on a multipurpose research water-cooled reactor of up to 10 MW, a state of the art laboratory complex, multipurpose irradiation center as well as a cyclotron-based nuclear medicine center. The project will be implemented in several stages within 3-6 years from the work commencement date under the contract. The Center will ensure wide application of radiation technologies in medicine, industry and agriculture.
The CNST will also promote the growth of national education and science through the training of highly qualified experts in various fields. The radioisotopes produced here will be used to diagnose and treat primarily cancer and cardiac diseases, which will generally increase availability of high-tech nuclear medicine for Zambia’s population. The use of radiation for food processing will improve food safety and create conditions for the increase of Zambian agricultural exports.
On behalf of Russia, the document was signed by Director General of State Specialized Design Institute JSC (GSPI) Vyacheslav Galushkov, on behalf of Zambia – by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic of Zambia Mabvuto Sakala.
The signing procedure took place in the presence of the Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev and the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Zambia Mathew Nkhuwa.
Russia was represented in the CNST negotiations by the experts of Rusatom Overseas JSC, its management perimeter includes the State Specialized Design Institute (GSPI).
Sudan
The Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electric Power of the Republic of the Sudan signed a Memorandum on Cooperation on the personnel training with Rosatom.
The parties agreed on the implementation of joint projects in the field of personnel education and training for the needs of nuclear energy and related industries. It is planned to organize training programs for Sudan nuclear infrastructure; development of close cooperation between specialized educational institutions; teacher training for the purpose of conducting training courses in Sudanese universities and other educational organizations of the country; development of field-specific educational and scientific literature and exchange of students.
On the Russian side the documents were signed by N.N.Spassky, Deputy Director General of ROSATOM, from the Sudanese side – Yu.Kh. Yusif Abdullah,First Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity of the Republic of Sudan.
