African nations should embrace nuclear to transit from energy poverty to sufficient, affordable, sustainable, environmentally friendly mix – Collyer, Rosatom CEO

Ryan Collyer, who joined Rosatom Africa in October 2014 as the company’s Communications Manager has moved through the roles of Communications Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, DCEO, to become the CEO of Rosatom Central and Southern Africa.

In this interview with members of the African Association of Energy Journalists and Publishers, AJERAP, ably moderated by Camara Sanna and Atwiine Allen, Collyer speaks on a wide range of issues, including the establishment, giant strides and potentials of nuclear in Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy mix.

AJERAP: How was it like starting from communications manager to becoming a CEO?

Collyer: It has been an interesting journey to say the least. I come from a communications background. I was a manager and later director of a Public Relations agency. We used to focus on industrial Public Relations. When you are dealing with nuclear, communication is very important. Public acceptance of this technology is vitally important because you can have the best project, you can have the best financial outcomes and a safe industry. But, if you don’t have public buy in, for a particular project, unfortunately, it’s unlikely going to work. So, I entered the nuclear industry as a communications specialist. This is an industry that I absolutely fell in love with. This is an industry I don’t think I could possibly leave.

So, my journey started in communications and slowly moved into business development and government relations. I was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom Central and Southern Africa, where I held forte for a number of years. Then, I had the opportunity to take on leading roles in Africa in general and Sub Saharan Africa in particular.

Coming from a communications background, public buying is still a vital aspect of my role. I think that is one of my strong points in promoting the industry in the Sub Sahara Africa.

AJERPA: When and why was Rosatom established?

Collyer: The company was established about 80 years ago and 2025 marks a monumental milestone for us in the Russian nuclear industry. We are celebrating 80 years this year. The industry started in 1954 with the commissioning of the first civil nuclear power plant.

It was essentially a small modular reactor then. But over the years, we have recorded many key milestones. The company was established to play vital roles in giving the world green base load electricity. These include a large scale nuclear power plants, which is our flagship and small modular reactors. We have six of them, contracted outside of Russia. We are very excited about our floating nuclear power plants.

Beyond the energy sector, we have also played in over the last eighty years, a role in nuclear medicine and nuclear research. We have built over 122 research reactors. Rosatom is a very large organization.

AJERAP: What have been the activities of the organization?

Collyer: As I mentioned earlier, we have big nuclear power plants with 1,200, megawatt, MW. We have played major roles in nuclear research, as well as nuclear medicine. So, we are able to offer full-fledged nuclear medicine centers. We are able to offer our customers, multipurpose radiation facilities for the life extension and sterilization of food and medical stuffs.

Also, we have the small modular reactors, which the world is looking at this point in time. We are also thinking about how to provide, green based load electricity to areas that cannot take on 1,200 megawatts. Furthermore, we also pay attention to the provision of 50 megawatt electrical reactors, which could either land-based or floating. We have a number of disciplines across our business.

Rosatom is made up of over 400 different companies, and employs over 400,000 people. So, when it comes to nuclear value chain, we have a business in each step of the way from uranium mining to other phases in the value chain. We enrich our own uranium. We fabricate our own fuel. We design and construct nuclear power plants and we operate them. In Russia, for instance, we operate under 30 gigawatts of nuclear power.

AJERAP: How has Rosatom impacted energy development in Russia and other countries?

Collyer: Rosatom plays key roles, especially in green electricity. These roles enable businesses, especially industrialization. In order to industrialize, we need large supply of electricity. So, whether you produce steel or other components, you want to be able to use a cleaner source of energy. It becomes quite difficult when you are looking at renewable sources in order to run large smelters. I really think that’s where nuclear comes in and that’s where, Rosatom, for instance, plays and would continue to play roles in Russia and other countries, including African nations. For instance, we have a 4,800 megawatts project in Egypt. We have another project in Turkey, which is also 4,800 megawatts. We also have other units in 10 different countries that are being contracted at the moment.

AJERAP: Kindly comment on your medium and long term plans?

Collyer: In terms of the big nuclear power plants, we still see a very large market for them. I think there’s a global resurgence when it comes to nuclear energy, which has been ratified, in the European Union, EU as green electricity. So, obviously, we are going to play key roles. We are also looking at small modular reactors and the potentials inherent in floating nuclear power plants, particularly in my region. We provide for countries that don’t have well established grid infrastructure and cannot perhaps take on a 200 megawatts units at this point. We are also looking at the small modular reactors.

AJERAP: What is the future of nuclear energy on the African continent?

Collyer: We see more African nations in general and sub Saharan African nations in particular showing more interest in nuclear power. These include some West African countries and their East African counterparts that have made efforts over the years to implement nuclear projects. Ghana and Nigeria are very advanced in terms of their capabilities. They both, for instance, have, research reactors, very small research reactors, but still the experiences are there. They’ve worked through the International Atomic Energy Agency’s key milestone approach to a point where they can go to the market now and find a vendor that they want to build nuclear power plants with. The same could be said of some East African nations, especially Kenya. Nuclear has very key roles to play in Africa. Even though I am an advocate of a diverse energy mix, including hydro, renewables and fossil fuels, I also believe that there is a place for nuclear power because of its affordability, sustainability, and environmental friendliness. It also has a unique place to play in South Africa where I was born and raised because we need to industrialize through the use of large amounts of electricity.

AJERAP: What issues and problems have your organization encountered in this journey?

Collyer: We have encountered some issues and challenges, including geopolitical challenges. It is somewhat unfortunate, that they affect businesses, but we are a very robust and reliable partner. So, we haven’t forfeited, for instance, on any of our contractual obligations on what our clients require. We remain the largest exporter of nuclear, in the world. Also, we understand the challenges on our continent, particularly inadequate financing. But I think we are very flexible as well, and we are able to work with our counterparts and partners to help them achieve their goals. I think it’s really important to understand that we partner with countries. It should be noted that bringing nuclear into a country takes years to build not only infrastructure but also the legislations and competences.

AJERAP: What is your take on the global energy transition?

Collyer: If we look at energy transition, from a global perspective, it is about decarbonization. But if we look at it from a sub Saharan African perspective, it means transitioning from one energy source to another. We are transitioning from energy poverty to a mix that will allow us to grow our industries and economies. As responsible vendors and governments, we need to consider it from that perspective. We need to be doing everything we can to transit from energy poverty to a sufficient, sustainable, environmentally friendly and affordable mix to grow our businesses and economies. From that perspective, nuclear energy has key to play.

AJERAP: What advice do you have for African nations, currently making efforts to tackle their energy poverty?

Collyer: I think pragmatism is something that needs to be at the forefront. So, countries need to look pragmatically at their options in terms of energy generation, weigh the options and come up with pragmatic and clear strategies. They should stick to their strategies and implement them. The best time to have started building a nuclear power plant was ten years ago. But the next best time is to do it now.