Senegal aims to build nuclear technology centre
25 September 2018
Senegal and the French National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology - Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires - have signed an agreement to collaborate on a project to create a centre of excellence in nuclear science and technology. The framework partnership agreement was signed by Philippe Corréa, director of INSTN, and Mary Teuw Niane, minister of higher education, research and innovation in Senegal.
Corréa and the minister at the signing ceremony (Image: CEA)
INSTN said the agreement contains three main lines of action: to support Senegal in the creation of an African Centre of Excellence in Nuclear Physics in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); to participate in the development of teaching on a research reactor or a virtual reality teaching reactor, and in the area of nuclear science and technology; and to support the development of training courses focused on nuclear health applications, particularly in the fight against cancer.
The implementation of this agreement will also make it possible to create a distance learning platform, the training of Senegalese experts and students in nuclear science and technology and the transfer of knowledge, in accordance with IAEA regulations.
Almost all the electricity Senegal produces is from fossil fuels, but in early in 2010 it announced that as part of its policy to replace oil for power generation, and to integrate with the West African Power Pool, it was considering a nuclear power plant by about 2020. The energy minister was keen to establish an African Commission for Nuclear Energy with headquarters in Dakar. However then in 2011 the president said that he had cancelled plans for nuclear power. Domestic demand is only 550 MWe but is growing at 7% per year. France in 2010 offered technical assistance.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News