Information released by Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom earlier this week.
The agreement was signed after Rosatom General Director Alexey Likhachev shared in May that Moscow and Kigali had reached a consensus on building a nuclear power plant.
The document was signed in Moscow after the first meeting of the Russia-Ruanda Joint Coordinating Committee on nuclear cooperation.
The two sides discussed the planned nuclear power project, the plan to build the Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Rwanda, the development of the country's nuclear infrastructure, human resource training and issues related to management and licensing.
According to Dr. Lassina Zerbo - energy advisor to the President of Rwanda and Chairman of the Rwandan Atomic Energy Commission, the country aims to bring nuclear power into the power source structure from the early 2030s to meet the increasing electricity demand.
We are shifting from framework agreements to implementing specific cooperation contents, from national human resource training, nuclear infrastructure development to nuclear science and small module reactor projects. Rwanda is building a systematic and responsible nuclear program, and Rosatom is ready to become a reliable partner of this country at all stages," said Kirill Komarov, First Deputy Director General of Rosatom.
In an interview from 2025, Mr. Zerbo said that small modular reactors may be a lower-cost option compared to traditional large-scale nuclear power plants. He described this as a "plug and play" solution, which can connect to existing grid systems, helping to avoid large-scale electricity infrastructure upgrades as well as significantly reduce grid modernization costs.
Russia and Rwanda began developing nuclear cooperation after signing an intergovernmental agreement on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in 2018.
A year later, the two countries continued to agree to build the Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Rwanda. The project is expected to include a 10 MW research reactor and a network of laboratories.
In recent years, Rosatom has actively expanded its presence in Africa, including the construction of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt - the first large-scale nuclear power project of this continent.
