OpeOluwani Akintayo
21 April 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Members of the Zambian Parliament, MPs paid a visit to the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant, NVNPP yesterday.
The tour held in the framework of the official visit of the delegation of the national assembly of the Republic of Zambia to the Russian Federation was to review Russia’s advanced nuclear technology.
The MPs visited the NVNPP training center, which provides educational opportunities for specialists a number of Rosatom’s partner countries.
Speaking on the visit, Patrick Matibini, Head of the delegation, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Zambia said: “Power is the lifeline of the economy. Most of the power in Zambia is produced from hydro which is dependent on nature and the rainfall. And in the last years, unfortunately, we had very little rainfall. This has affected the amount of water in dams and the generation of the power.
“And that’s why we are exploring different forms of energy, namely nuclear power. At the NVNPP, I was very impressed with the magnitude of the investment: the buildings, the equipment, the size of the human power. And of course, the amount of power itself – over 2400 MW at the new units. In Zambia, we will go a long way in our meeting our challenges for the provision of electricity”.
“We are cooperating with our Zambian partners on the construction of a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology that will open up fundamentally new opportunities to develop science, agriculture, healthcare and education in the country. We also have plans to increase our cooperation in the nuclear power industry. Rosatom is willing to provide maximum support to Zambian partners in large-scale projects in the peaceful use of nuclear technology,” said Evgeny Pakermanov, President of Rusatom Overseas.
The delegates visited the main control room and turbine hall of unit 6, as well as the SF6-insulated switch unit, and also took a tour of the plant’s Unit 6 commissioned in February to boost the world’s first Gen 3+ advanced VVER-1200 reactor.
The visit was quite significant, coming at a time when African nations – including Nigeria are embracing nuclear power as an eco-friendly means of generating electric energy.
It would be recalled that in a view to diversifying Nigeria’s energy mix, last October, the Nigerian government signed an agreement with Russia – to construct a nuclear power plant and research centre in the country.
