The Council of Ministers has today approved a regulation establishing the Ethiopian Nuclear Power Commission (ENPC), a body mandated to lead and coordinate the nation’s efforts to utilize nuclear technology.
Following the Council’s decision, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) appointed Sandokan Debebe, former Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, as the ENPC’s first Commissioner.
The establishment of the ENPC is meant to fulfill the international requirement to create a national regulatory body ensuring the safe, secure, and peaceful use of nuclear technology in line with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Ethiopia is actively engaging with the IAEA to secure technical assistance, training, and support for developing its regulatory framework and human resources. The primary foreign partner in its nuclear aspirations is Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom.
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Just weeks before the commission’s formation, the two countries signed an Action Plan to develop the nuclear power project. The groundwork for this cooperation was originally laid with an intergovernmental agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy back in 2017.
