The Russian state nuclear company, Rosatom, and Burkina Faso had on Friday, October 13, signed a memorandum of understanding-MOU, for the erection of a nuclear power plant in the landlocked Sahel West African state, according to a statement by the Burkina Faso’s energy ministry.
The nuclear power plant will aid the country to meet its energy needs.
The agreement was signed by Simon-Pierre Boussim, the energy and mines minister and Nikolay Spasskiy, Rosatom’s deputy director-general.
The deal is coming after a request was made by Burkina Faso junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, during the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg back in July.
Traore, who had sized power in a military coup in September 2022, had since moved closer to Russia as its relationship with its former colonial power France grew sour while Russia moved to break Western isolation over the Ukraine conflict and increase its influence in Africa.
The semi-arid country of over 20 million people has an established power generation capacity of about over 420 megawatts.
The country, like its neighbours Mali and Niger had been cementing its ties with Russia especially on military cooperation, but it is also struggling to curb the Islamist insurgencies linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The MOU had however, not provided the details of the proposed nuclear power plant nor its funding, nor a specific period for the construction.
