Speaking to African heads of state and representatives from Russian, African, and international business and government agencies, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachov yesterday emphasised the benefits of nuclear energy in job creation and regional economic development. At the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, Likhachov said global inequality in technological, industrial and socio-economic development was "acutely felt" in Africa.

Russia and Ethiopia have signed an intergovernmental framework agreement on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy

Russia and Rwanda have signed an agreement to construct the first Centre of Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST) in Rwanda with participation of ROSATOM.

Students from Zambia were among those invited to join counterparts from across the world for a specialised two-week programme of lectures and practical sessions delivered by distinguished experts in the field of radiation application and isotope production.

Ethiopia and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy during the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi. The document was signed by Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachov and Ethiopian Minister of Innovation and Technology Getahun Mekuria.

Globally, nuclear power is a leading source of clean electricity today - second only to hydro - but many nuclear power plants in advanced economies are facing retirement as they approach the end of their original 40-year design lifetime, Birol said. Without additional lifetime extensions or new projects, nuclear capacity in advanced economies - primarily in the USA, the EU and Japan - would decline by two-thirds by 2040, substantially as a result of political issues and inadequate market design, he added.

Nuclear power for civil use is well-established in India. Since building two small boiling water reactors at Tarapur in the 1960s, its civil nuclear strategy has been directed towards complete independence in the nuclear fuel cycle, necessary because it is excluded from the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) due to it acquiring nuclear weapons capability after 1970. As a result, India's nuclear power programme has proceeded largely without fuel or technological assistance from other countries.

The Czech Republic has six nuclear reactors generating about one-third of its electricity. Four VVER-440 units are at Dukovany, in Vysočina Region, and two VVER-1000 units are at Temelín, in South Bohemian Region. The country is phasing out its coal-fired power plants and will need to increase the share of nuclear power if it is to remain self-sufficient in electricity supply.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has announced an agreement to collaborate on the potential application of its BWRX-300 small modular reactor technology in Poland.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has renewed its 2017 Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The document was signed by Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of ENEC, and Alexey Likhachov, Rosatom director general, in Abu Dhabi during Russian President Vladimir Putin's official visit to the United Arab Emirates.