The industrialization and development of the African continent cannot be achieved without atomic energy, nuclear communication specialist Princess Mthombeni said in an exclusive interview to RT on Monday.
Speaking during the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) in Dubai, Mthombeni, who is founder of the Africa for Nuclear channel on YouTube, said Africa needs to contribute to the global goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
“There is no net zero 2050 without the inclusion of nuclear,” she said.
Mthombeni also mentioned that 22 nations, including the US, Canada, Japan, France, the UK and the UAE, signed a pledge to triple nuclear energy capacity on December 2 at the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Uganda sent some of the largest delegations, according to the UN membership list.
Nigeria sent 1,411 representatives, more than any other country, followed by Morocco with 823 and Kenya with 765.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP 28, is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from November 30th to December 12th, 2023.
Meanwhile, in May, Russian state-owned energy giant Rosatom began building a third reactor at the El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Egypt. According to Andrey Petrov, Rosatom’s deputy director general for nuclear energy, the installation of one of the main elements of the second power unit at the NPP has started ahead of schedule. The four planned reactors for the plant are expected to operate at a full capacity of 4.8 GW by 2030. El-Dabaa will be Egypt’s first NPP and the first such facility on the African continent built with Russian technology. It is also the largest joint Russian-Egyptian project since the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Agreements on cooperating in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, including building infrastructure, were also signed by Moscow with the nations of Mali and Burkina Faso in October.