Russia's nuclear firm eyes SA private sector, municipalities

'We are looking at floating power units'

- By Mpho Sibanyoni

Ryan Collyer

Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom has revealed that it has expanded its target market to include the private sector for its nuclear electricity programme.

Ryan Collyer, the chief executive of Rosatom Central and Southern Africa, said this during an interview with Sunday World on the sidelines of World Atomic Week in Moscow on Friday. He said the state-owned entity wanted to achieve its ambition by deploying floating power units, which are small power stations based on barges.

Rosatom's first of these small power plants was the Akademik Lomonosov in Pevek, Russia's Arctic port town.

The event, which also commemorates the world's largest country's 80th anniversary in nuclear development, was attended by thousands of delegates from across the globe.

Collyer's comment comes as South Africa's government, which was Rosatom's primary target market in nuclear power station development, is struggling to get the project off the ground.