Russia and the West African state of Guinea have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on building floating nuclear power stations.

Russian nuclear engineer Rosatom said the two sides would “study the possibility” of implementing a project.

It comes amid increasing interest in nuclear power among Sub-Saharan African states.

In May, GCR reported that vendors from France, the US, Russia, South Korea and China were competing to build Ghana’s first nuclear power plant (NPP) using a public-private partnership model.

In March, Burkina Faso and Rosatom signed an agreement to build an NPP and in 2022, Kenya’s nuclear power authority picked two possible sites for the country’s first commercial reactors.

This was following the work on the fourth unit of Egypt’s Dabaa nuclear power plant, which began in January. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi officially launched the construction of the project.

Russia’s recent nuclear initiatives in Africa include Nigeria, a potential future member of the BRICS bloc, and Tanzania.

As yet, no scheme has progressed beyond the agreement stage, and a number of deals were signed in the past without ever moving forward. Among these were a deal with Uganda in 2016, Nigeria in 2017 and Rwanda in 2019.