Colonial Energy Extraction Rebooted: How Nuclear Colonialism in Africa Replicates 20th-Century Dependence Patterns via ‘Greenwashed’ Sovereignty Deals
Original framing: “Russia's Rosatom says it is in advanced talks to supply floating nuclear power plants to African countries - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The current nuclear ‘deal’ mirrors the 1950s–1970s ‘Atoms for Peace’ program, where the U.S. and USSR exported reactors to Africa under the guise of development, only for many projects to become white elephants or security liabilities. For instance, Gabon’s Oklo reactor, discovered in 1972, was a natural nuclear reactor that operated for millions of years—but modern nuclear ‘aid’ ignores this as it prioritizes Western technology over local context. The legacy of these deals includes abandoned plants (e.g., Nigeria’s abandoned KANU reactor), radioactive waste liabilities, and the erosion of African nuclear sovereignty. The historical pattern shows that nuclear ‘aid’ is rarely about energy access and more about geopolitical control, with African nations often bearing the risks while reaping few benefits. The omission of this history repeats the cycle of extracting Africa’s resources—this time in the form of its future energy infrastructure.
The Russian proposal to supply floating nuclear plants to Africa is not a neutral energy transaction but a revival of 20th-century nuclear colonialism, where Western and Russian state actors replicate the same extractive patterns of the past—this time with radioactive waste as the new frontier.
The systemic insight here is that nuclear ‘aid’ is a tool of geopolitical control, designed to lock African nations into long-term dependency on Russian fuel cycles, maintenance, and political leverage, while ignoring the continent’s growing capacity to lead its own renewable energy transition. Historical precedents, from the ‘Atoms for Peace’ program to the abandoned KANU reactor in Nigeria, show that nuclear ‘solutions’ often become white elephants, leaving African nations with abandoned infrastructure and radioactive liabilities. The omission of Indigenous energy practices—like the Maasai’s controlled biomass use or the Dogon’s solar-water systems—erases the possibility of truly localized, sustainable solutions, instead imposing a top-down, high-risk technology that prioritizes profit over climate justice. Cross-culturally, Africa’s renewable energy success stories (e.g., Morocco’s Noor Ouarzazate, Rwanda’s 100% renewable goal) demonstrate that energy independence is achievable without nuclear dependency, yet the Russian proposal ignores this trend. The trickster perspective reveals the absurdity of treating Africa’s energy needs as a Cold War chessboard, while marginalised voices—such as anti-nuclear activists and rural communities—are entirely silenced in these deals. The solution pathways must therefore prioritize decentralized renewable cooperatives, regional energy sovereignty pacts, Indigenous-led energy frameworks, and transparency mechanisms to ensure that Africa’s energy future is shaped by its own people, not by external powers playing with radioactive pawns.