Uganda to become first African country to develop nuclear power

Uganda and Russia have signed a pact on development of uranium into nuclear power for “peaceful purposes.”
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday in Moscow by Uganda’s State minister for Minerals Simon D’Ujanga and Russia’s deputy director-general of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Nikolai Spasskiy.

Other areas of collaboration under the pact include, radiological and physical security, fundamental and applied researches, human resource training, and nuclear research centres based on multifunctional research reactors.

Uganda’s nuclear discussions with Russia commenced last October shortly after the launch of the Uganda-Russian Joint Permanent Commission, an inter-governmental framework for economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

The agreement comes barely a month after Uganda’s ministry of energy team led by Undersecretary Prisca Boonabantu travelled to China at the invitation of Zhonguan Engineering Corporation (CZEC), a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), as part of the ongoing discussions with Beijing to help Kampala develop peaceful nuclear at about $3 billion.