A senior US government official has welcomed the recent agreement between Ghana and US nuclear companies NuScale Power and Regnum Technology Group, to develop a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in the West African country. This would most probably be the first SMR to be built in Africa.

“I congratulate NuScale Power, Regnum Technologies and Nuclear Power Ghana on this momentous announcement, which is projected to support thousands of US jobs and accelerate Ghana’s clean energy transition as a model for the continent,” affirmed US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Marisa Lago. “I’m pleased to see cutting-edge US technologies at the forefront of Ghana’s plans to integrate civil nuclear into its energy portfolio, advancing the country’s climate goals and powering further economic development.”

NuScale Power was the company that developed the SMR technology. Its SMR is a pressurised water reactor design and is one of the first (and the first, and still the only one, in the US) SMR designs to have passed generic design review and gain regulatory approval. A single NuScale SMR module can generate 77 MWe (gross) of electricity. NuScale has developed standard designs for four-module, six-module and 12-module SMR power plants.

The Regnum Technology Group is a nuclear technology project development group. NuScale is one of the companies that it has partnered with.

Nuclear Power Ghana is the State-owned company set up in 2018 to be the owner and operator of the country’s first nuclear power plant (NPP). It is one of the three key organisations in the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO), the other two being the country’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the Nuclear Power Institute (this last providing technical expertise and support). The GNPPO, which falls under the Ministry of Energy, also includes other governmental agencies, private business, and academia.

Ghana is implementing its nuclear power programme in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines and with the IAEA’s assistance. The country’s NPP programme is being executed in three phases, and is currently in Phase 2 (preparatory work for the construction of an NPP). Phase 3 will be the implementation of the first NPP.

The agreement between the Ghanaian and US nuclear companies was signed within the framework created by previous Ghana-US agreements on civil nuclear cooperation. These include the US Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of SMR Technology (FIRST) programme, which is helping Ghana become a regional hub and centre of excellence for SMRs. FIRST is providing Ghana with a NuScale-developed SMR control centre simulator, known as an Energy Exploration (or E2) Centre, to create a regional SMR training centre for nuclear power operators and technicians.