Kenya and five others endorse push to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050

Kenya and five other countries have joined 25 other countries across the world that have committed to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050.

The other countries that have signed the declaration Nigeria, Kosovo, El Salvador, Kazakhstan and Türkiye. This was announced today by World Nuclear Association (WNA) Director-General Dr Sama Bilbao at the ongoing COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This comes a year after 25 countries from four continents launched the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy during the COP28 that was held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2023.The Declaration recognized the key role of nuclear energy in achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and keeping the 1.5-degree goal within reach. 

The countries were the US, Armenia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, Hungary, Jamaica, Japan, Republic of Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the UK.

Kenya’s decision to sign the declaration come even as it plans to start construction of a 1,000MW nuclear power plant in 2027. The plant’s construction is expected to extend into the mid-2030s and cost more than Ksh600 billion. The nuclear plant has raised controversy especially among the locals who raised numerous issues against its construction, including safety of nearby residents.

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Kenya has an installed power capacity of 3,199.9MW, according to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). Geothermal energy accounts for the largest portion of this installed capacity totaling 940MW followed by hydro which has a capacity of 839.3MW. the others are thermal (572.8MW), wind (435.5MW), solar (210.3MW), bionergey (2MW) and imports (200MW).

Nuclear power does not produce carbon emissions and is considered key int the global push to combat climate change. The World Nuclear Association projects that global nuclear capacity could increase by 75% in its reference scenario by 2040, while the US Energy Information Administration expects that nuclear power generation will grow by a more modest 19.3%, driven primarily by developing countries, especially China and India.

Globally, 440 nuclear electric power plants are operable in 33 countries. Sixty-one reactors are under construction, mostly in China, India, Turkey, South Korea and Russia.

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