The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in partnership with the Nuclear Business Platform will host the Africa Nuclear Business Platform 2023 (AFNBP 2023) from March 14-17, 2023 in Kampala with an expectation of over 300 stakeholders from the international nuclear community.
Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said AFNBP 2023 will bring together the key stakeholders pursuing nuclear energy implementation to understand and discuss nuclear energy developments in Africa and explore areas of strategic collaborations to move Uganda and African countries’ nuclear industry forward.
“H.E. General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, is expected to grace the event featuring ministers and senior officials from various countries running nuclear programmes, industry players and nuclear technology vendors,” she said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The minister said the conference presents an excellent opportunity to Uganda, particularly, and the African continent in general, to find suitable approaches to challenges in the nuclear industry.
Seven sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda, have committed to having nuclear energy as part of their energy mix between 2030 and 2037. The other countries are Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia.
Nankabirwa said all these countries have developed national positions on having nuclear energy and have engaged with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to assist in their nuclear power programs. Ongoing activities in the countries include site selections, drafting nuclear laws and regulations, establishing dedicated nuclear organizations and developing strategic cooperation with key global nuclear nations such as the USA, South Korea, China, France and Russia.
The region, particularly Uganda, is experiencing an ever-increasing population, economic growth, and rising social needs that require sustainable development of energy resources.
The Uganda Vision 2040 and the subsequent National Development Plans identify electricity as modern energy to shift the country from a peasantry to an industrialized and predominantly urban society. Electricity has been identified as a critical driver of the socio-economic transformation of a nation.
In that regard, Nankabirwa said Uganda embarked on diversifying the electricity generation mix to address the electricity crisis of 2005, predominantly hydropower, to develop all the available generation potential.
However, according to studies conducted in the energy sector, electricity generation from hydro, biomass, geothermal and peat potential, if fully developed, cannot meet Uganda’s Vision 2040 targets.
The minister says Uganda is making firm steps to integrate nuclear energy into the electricity generation mix to ensure energy security and provide sufficient electricity for industrialization. In addition, she said, the government has identified nuclear as part of Uganda’s energy transition plan. It continues to invest in developing the requisite infrastructure, including human capital development in specialized areas to support the early development of nuclear power.
In 2021, Uganda hosted the IAEA Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review Mission (INIR Phases) to evaluate the status of nuclear infrastructure development. The experts made recommendations and suggestions to the Uganda Nuclear Power Programme and identified good practices in national position, stakeholder involvement and local industrial involvement.
Uganda has now taken significant steps towards implementing the INIR recommendations and suggestions to support the development of its nuclear power programme.
Among these is the preparation for the amendment of the Atomic Energy Act, 2008, to strengthen the legal regime for nuclear safety, security, safeguards for nuclear material, civil nuclear liability and maintaining the nuclear institutional framework.
In addition, preparation to evaluate the Buyende Nuclear Power Plant site is ongoing to pave the way for the first nuclear power project expected to generate 2,000MW, with the first l000MW to be connected to the national grid by 2031.
The minister said for a successful nuclear power program, international support is very vital. She said the involvement of global multinational bodies such as the IAEA and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) in African countries’ nuclear power program development will be crucial, given their extensive experience and knowledge. In line with this, the Deputy Director General of the IAEA, Mikhail Chudakov and the chairperson of IFNEC, Aleshia Duncan, will be attending AFNBP 2023.
