HARARE,
ZIMBABWE
—
Zimbabwe
is
working
with
the
International
Atomic
Energy
Agency
and
Russian
investors
to
establish
nuclear
energy
as
part
of
its
efforts
to
end
the
country’s
chronic
power
shortages,
government
officials
said
Thursday.The
nation
has
expressed
its
interest
in
nuclear
power
to
the
IAEA,
said
Edgar
Moyo,
minister
of
energy
and
power
development,
and
hopes
to
develop
small,
modular
reactors.
“They
have
indicated
their
willingness
to
take
us
through
paces
until
we
get
there,”
Moyo
told
journalists.
Establishing
nuclear
power
is
expensive
and
complex,
said
Joseph
Siegle,
the
director
of
research
at
the
Africa
Center
for
Strategic
Studies
in
Washington,
which
is
the
reason
countries
such
as
South
Africa
and
Egypt
have
sought
Russia’s
assistance.
The
process
is
also
ripe
for
corruption,
he
said,
so
transparency
is
critical.
“Most
economists
would
argue
that
those
deals
cost
far
more
than
are
warranted
for
the
benefits
that
they
would
provide
to
their
economies
and
to
their
societies,”
Siegle
said,
“and
so
there’s
a
worry
that
these
huge
infrastructure
projects
become
a
source
of
corruption,
both
in
the
country
where
it
is
being
built,
but
also
vis-a-vis
the
state-owned
enterprises
that
the
Russians
provide
to
build
the
plant.
“In
the
end,
it
becomes
the
public
in
the
country
that
is
building
the
plant
that
would
be
responsible
for
paying
off
these
costs,”
he
said.
Zimbabwe
says
its
goal
is
to
have
4,000
megawatts
of
power
capacity
by
2035
and
end
years
of
power
cuts
that
can
sometimes
last
up
to
18
hours
per
day.
Siegle
said
Zimbabwe’s
power
needs
do
not
warrant
a
traditional
large-scale
nuclear
reactor
and
suggested
that
the
government
study
the
lasting
impact
of
waste
disposal.
“[This]
has
always
been
a
concern
with
nuclear
energy
—
what
you
do
with
the
waste,
which
requires
some
10,000
years
for
the
radioactive
elements
to
decay
and
not
pose
a
health
risk
to
society,”
he
said.
Nuclear
power
also
heightens
security
risks,
Siegle
said.
Gloria
Magombo,
secretary
for
energy
and
power
development,
said
at
the
media
briefing
that
Zimbabwe
aims
to
increase
the
use
of
other
renewable
energies
besides
hydropower,
given
the
nation’s
recurring
droughts.
She
mentioned
solar,
wind
and
mini-hydro
stations.
“We
are
we
are
looking
at
coming
in
by
2030
with
up
to
about
2,000
megawatts”
from
those
sources,
Magombo
said.
Zimbabwe’s
current
capacity
for
power
generation
is
about
2,600
megawatts,
according
to
the
government.
The
actual
daily
generation
is
roughly
half
of
that.