A nuclear power station (Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant, Grafenrheinfeld, Bavaria, Germany).

Akwa Ibom and kogi states look likely to host Nigeria’s two nuclear power plants, once Nigeria can work out the financing, according to wire reports.

One nuclear power plant costs between $5 billion to $8 billion, a source at Rosatom
Russia’s state-owned company said.

Rostaom which has been in talks with Nigeria over the nuclear plants, has confirmed that two sites had been selected for the building of four nuclear reactors, for Africa’s biggest economy, constantly in the throes of power outage.

Neither side would say where the sites were, but a source at Nigeria’s nuclear agency said the sites will be in Akwa Ibom state, in southeast Nigeria, and Kogi state, in the central northern part of the country.

Nigeria, with a population of around 170 million, has installed power capacity that fluctuates between around 6,000 MW to just over 7,000 MW, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, with 80 percent of its power plants fired by gas.

By comparison, South Africa’s capacity is almost seven times greater for a population less than a third as big.

Africa’s biggest economy has no experience in developing and operating nuclear plants but has small reactors producing around 30 KW for research, Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, chief executive of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, said on its website.

Nigeria has not yet said how it plans to fund the construction, a key question given its finances have taken a hit after a slump in the price of oil, its main export.

Source: Reuters/NAN