Uganda, through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, is set to host the Africa Nuclear Business Platform 2023 (AFNBP), which is scheduled to take place at Speke Resort Munyonyo between 14th to 17th March 2023.
The Minister of Energy, Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa, confirmed the development while briefing the media on the upcoming AFNBP 2023 at Amber House in Kampala on Thursday, 9th 2023.
This conference is expected to bring together key stakeholders pursuing nuclear energy implementation to understand and discuss nuclear energy developments in Africa and explore areas of strategic collaboration to move Uganda and African countries’ nuclear industries forward.
She said that the conference comes at a time when Uganda is in preparation for the amendment of the Atomic Energy Act, 2008, to strengthen the legal regime for nuclear safety, security, safeguards for nuclear material, civil nuclear liability, and maintaining the nuclear institutional framework.
“The conference presents an excellent opportunity for Uganda, particularly, and the African continent in general, to find suitable approaches to challenges in the nuclear industry,” Nankabirwa said.
She added that it has come at a time when seven Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, and Zambia, have committed to having nuclear energy as part of their energy mix between 2030 to 2037.
“All these countries have developed national positions on having nuclear energy and have engaged with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to assist in their nuclear power programs,” she added.
Following the ever-increasing population, economic growth, and rising social needs that require sustainable development of energy resources, Uganda has embarked on diversifying the electricity generation mix to address the electricity crisis of 2005 which was predominantly hydropower, and to develop all the available generation potential.
In 2021, Uganda hosted the IAEA Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review Mission (INIR Phase 1) to evaluate the status of nuclear infrastructure development. The experts made recommendations and suggestions to the Uganda Nuclear Power Programme and identified good practices in national positioning, stakeholder involvement, and local industrial involvement.
