Russia outsmarts France in Niger over proposed power plant

Russia has been attached to the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in Niger -rich in uranium – a vast and arid case on the edge of the desert desert that must import most of the electricity.

This may be considered impractical and may never happen, but the concept is another step by Moscow to search for a geopolitical advantage over Western countries.

Niger historically exported the metal to further refine in France, but this changes with the state -led country cut ties with the previous colonial power.

The uranium mining process, which is run by the French nuclear group Urano in June, was nationalized, to cleanse the way for Russia to flow itself as a new partner.

He talks about energy generation and medical applications, with a focus on training local experience under a cooperation agreement signed between the Russian company Rosatom and the Nigerian authorities.

If this is achieved, this will be the first nuclear energy project in West Africa.

In addition to preliminary discussions, it is not clear to what extent will things come on this way. But indeed, with this first step, Moscow has shown that it realizes the depth of local frustrations.

For more than five decades, Urano – which was known until 2018 as Niger Niger Uranium, was to provide the nuclear energy sector at the heart of the energy strategy in France.

The company owned by the French government is now obtaining most of its supplies from Canada and Kazakhstan and has development projects in Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

But the Nigerian communication remained important and shipped with a degree of political weight and perhaps even cultural.

However, Paris did not share its nuclear knowledge with the sincere African resource. Meanwhile, Niger must be largely relying on coal generation and electricity imports from Nigeria.

But now, the relations between the Niger Military Council and France allowed Moscow to provide hope, no matter how far, for a nuclear future, which was failed to do Arva/Urano, over many years of the local process.

“Our mission is to participate in uranium mining. We must create a complete system for developing peaceful atomic energy in Niger.”

Of course, this is not completely altruism. There are economic benefits for Russia and it is part of a wider batch to accelerate the western influence of the Sahel region.

The Russians can get an opportunity to develop the mine in IMouraren, one of the largest uranium deposits in the world.

A French plan to develop the site was initially due to the decline in the demand for global uranium after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. It was revived in mid -2013, only for the military council that seized power after weeks to cancel the rights of Urano to deposit imouraren.

Obtaining this main origin would enhance Russia’s important position in the global production of uranium, which is now very vital for global hopes to help nuclear energy reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

They may be able to buy up to a positive price, each or part of up to 1,400 tons of “YellowCake” concentration of semi -processed uranium that awaits export from the Sominak mine, which is run by Orano in the ARLIT that the state seized in June.

The stocks accumulated for the first time after the regional bloc in West Africa, ECOWAS, imposed a commercial blockade on Niger after the overthrow of Mohamed Bazoum, the country’s civil president, in July 2023. But even after the sanctions were lifted, the new military regime was prevented from the resumption of shipments.

At one stage, China also showed interest in buying some focus.

Even the Nigerians explored contacts with Iran until the United States warned them against following any sale in this particular direction.

Of course, the image of the Nigerian nuclear power station drawn by TSIVilev raises huge – technical and economic questions and with regard to security in a notorious area of ​​Islamic militancy.

In fact, it seems that the French did not feel that the option is worth looking serious.

Because while the ore improvement process to yellow in Niger can be carried out, subsequent conversion, enrichment and transformation into nuclear fuel abroad, at the Orano Factory in CAP De La Hague in Normandy.

From there he was delivered to nuclear power plants in France.

The construction of a nuclear factory can take years and such projects require a large amount of investment in the capital, and as soon as they operate, they need large and safe energy supplies.

Moreover, the feasibility depends on the availability of industrial and local consumers who can afford the cost of power generation.

There are also questions about whether a nuclear power plant can be built safely and protected in the fragile Saheel and violence today. The jihadist armed groups control large areas of terrain in Mali and Burkina Faso, and parts of the Western Niger, making the region very unsafe.

Looking at time, the costs and complications of the development of the nuclear sector in Niger, this remains a distance.

It may not provide an early way to reduce the current pressure on energy supplies or its need for economic diversification.

But to some extent, these technical questions lack this point.

What Russia seized is the Nigerians’ feeling of the French assuming that they should be satisfied with remaining a source of raw minerals indefinitely, without ever graduating to a more industrial level.

The military systems allied in Mali and Burkina Faso applied their African sovereign vision to the largest export, gold.

The new mining rules force foreign investors to give larger roles to local commercial partners and ensure that some production is improved locally, while maintaining “added value” for jobs and profit at home.

Mali detained some CEO of Canadian Gold Mining for months in a dispute over revenue.

Now Niger played the ball.

The final closure and nationalization of Urano operations was surrounded by mutual expansion, as the government and the company accused each other with a obstacle.

The country’s group director, Ibrahim Kormo, has been detained in detention without charge since May.

It appears that the Military Council in Power today is now designed to bring the era of French uranium mining in Niger, where one of the officials informs the Paris Le Monde newspaper that Urano was “stuffing the natural resources of our country.”

Who can say what Moscow’s proposals for nuclear scientific partnership and perhaps even generate energy that will reach ever in concrete?

But there is one clear thing, in Niger is the Russians who properly read the political mood.

Paul Melly is a consultant for the Africa program in Chatham House in London.