Nuclear energy (Illustrative image)
Yacouba Zabré Gouba, Minister in charge of energy, mines and quarries, received in audience, this Tuesday, August 6, 2024, in Ouagadougou, a delegation from the Russian national company ROSATOM.
Yacouba Zabré Gouba, Minister in charge of energy, mines and quarries, giving more details on the visit of the delegation of the Russian national company ROSATOM to Burkina Faso
Yacouba Zabré Gouba, Minister in charge of energy, mines and quarries, at the end of the audience informed that the technicians of the national company for atomic energy of the Russian Federation (ROSATOM) will stay from August 5 to 9, 2024 in Burkina Faso. According to him, they will discuss much more technical aspects, making it possible to throw away everything that is necessary before starting the construction of the nuclear power plant desired by the Burkinabe authorities.
"In June 2024, we signed three memorandums of understanding, which are part of the implementation of the roadmap that was signed in March 2023 at the level of the Russian Federation. Today's visit, which will take place throughout the rest of the week, is in line with the implementation of this road map," recalled Minister Gouba.
Inside the meeting room of the Ministry of Energy
The Minister of Energy says he has a lot of hope on this visit, which will allow us to get to grips with the realities on energy issues, but also on other aspects which will concern other ministries.
"During this stay, we will first discuss at the level of the ministry in charge of energy, but also certain other ministers will be interested. This will mainly involve the ministry in charge of the environment; of the ministry in charge of higher education and scientific research; of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene and the Ministry in charge of Agriculture ," he outlined a section of the Russian delegation's agenda.
There are two remaining steps, Minister Gouba further said. "There is the signing of the agreement which will concern the two countries. There is also the technical offer which will be proposed by the Russian Federation through the company ROSATOM. During this stay, it will be a question of discussing aspects, in particular the location of installation of the future power plant ," he indicated.
As for the cost of building the plant, Yacouba Zabré Gouba also suggested that technical exchanges will make it possible to address this aspect and through the technical offer that will be proposed by ROSATOM. However, he reassured us of two things.
ROSATOM's Russian delegation, Burkina Faso's energy minister and other collaborators posed for posterity after their meeting
The first is that the will of the Head of State will come true. The second, the resilience of Burkina Faso. "It is the resilience of the Burkinabè people who have always responded to the call of the President of Faso, especially when it comes to questions of national sovereignty such as those of having the energy to be able to be the basis of the "all other sectors" , he declared, adding that the financing will be acquired if necessary through the sons and daughters of Burkina Faso.
Although he also recognized that the construction of a nuclear power plant takes time, he still wanted to be reassuring. "Building a nuclear power plant takes time, but time is also a factor that depends on the will of the different parties. Burkina Faso is strongly committed. The Russian side is also strongly committed , " reassured the minister in charge of mines.
Alexander Renev, Chief Engineer of ROSATOM, welcomed the welcome from Burkina Faso
Alexander Renev, Chief Engineer of ROSATOM, was delighted with the welcome and the relations between Russians and Burkinabè. "We are very happy with the welcome in Burkina Faso, with the relations between the Burkinabè and us. We thank Burkina Faso ," he declared.
He also promised to carry out the task entrusted to them as soon as possible. "The place has not yet been chosen. We work to choose the right location taking into account security and everything else. And we will do everything in our power to carry out your wishes as quickly as possible ," he pledged.