THE path ahead is clear. We must harness nuclear energy’s potential and adopt a bold political commitment backed by a clear national roadmap, including target dates for operational plants and long-term capacity-building initiatives. The potential is enormous and could result in creating thousands of skilled jobs and transforming Africa’s energy system towards greater energy security.
Governments need to tap into the reliability of nuclear power. With a 90% capacity factor, plants enjoy up to 45 years of economic life. While large-scale reactors provide stable baseload power, low-hanging fruit should focus on deploying SMRs first (20-300 MW) to power mines and industries, before scaling up to gigawatt plants.
To address the financing hurdle, which requires high upfront costs (70–85% fixed), countries can draw lessons from Africa’s 6.4 GW renewable energy projects, such as South Africa’s procurement program and global nuclear public-private partnership financing models.
Africa’s regional power pools, such as the Southern African Power Pool and the upcoming launch of a regional electricity market in the East African Power Pool, could amplify investment by pooling demand. The African Single Electricity Market (2040 vision) aims to integrate continental grids, boosting nuclear power’s viability.
Creating an African Nuclear Alliance can pool resources, negotiate better technology transfer deals and training programs and reform energy financing in partnership with Africa’s financial institutions to de-risk projects. The African Union and regional blocs must lead this charge to secure Africa’s energy future.
The time is now to move from potential to action. If done right, Africa could be a leader in this sector. Nuclear energy offers a bright future. But we must act deliberately and have the courage to embrace it.
Claver Gatete is the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
