Togo signs nuclear energy MoU with Rosatom

The agreement was signed during the Russia-Africa Summit taking place in Moscow.

According to Rosatom the MoU will also consider non-power applications of nuclear technology and steps to develop workforce skills and to "foster positive public attitudes towards nuclear power" in Togo.

Director general of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, said: "We are ready to offer our partners solutions in energy, healthcare and agriculture, as well as support for training specialists and developing nuclear infrastructure. One promising area could be the deployment of floating power units to provide reliable, low-carbon electricity."

Togo has ambitious plans for nuclear energy. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of Togo's Council of Ministers, addressed World Nuclear Association's World Nuclear Symposium in London in September, saying: "We have an opportunity to ensure the next chapter of the global nuclear renaissance is also a chapter of African industrialisation, innovation and development.

"The continent has enormous development ambitions, of industrialisation, improved healthcare systems, organised agriculture, digital infrastructure development and urbanisation. All of this requires reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy. Evolving nuclear technologies - particularly small modular reactors and microreactors - increasingly prove to deliver tenable solutions in Africa's context. However, Africa is not asking for a handout of nuclear technology. Africa is offering a partnership. Africa is offering a market. Africa is offering a mature vision for its own energy."