Kenya plans 10-megawatt thermal research reactor at Konza for medical isotopes

Kenya plans to build a 10-megawatt thermal (MWth) research reactor at Konza Technopolis to produce medical isotopes for cancer diagnosis and treatment, among other uses, Science, Research and Innovation Principal Secretary Shaukat Abdulrazak said, The Star reported on 16 October 2026.

The Star put the cost at KSh 36.7 billion. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), reporting on the same day, gave KSh 80 billion. "It looks as if it is a big amount of money, but you can see the dividends that we are going to get out of it," Abdulrazak said, as quoted by The Star.

The Star described the reactor as a multipurpose open-pool design. Besides isotopes, it would serve agricultural research, industrial testing, materials science and semiconductor-related work, and train specialists for Kenya's nuclear power programme. "While we are developing the nuclear power programme, this is a facility where we can conduct research in different areas," Abdulrazak said.

Kenya currently imports medical isotopes from South Africa, The Star reported. Justus Wabuyabo, chief executive of the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), said delays in importing them can affect their half-life, and that local production could draw patients from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

KBC reported that Abdulrazak said the reactor could be used to produce molybdenum-99, which is used to make radioisotopes for medical diagnosis.

The project is at the preparatory stage, and options for buying the reactor include open international competitive tendering, specially permitted procurement, government-to-government arrangements and a public-private partnership, The Star reported. KBC reported that Kenya expects to finance the project through a public-private partnership and to break ground next year, in 2027.

NuPEA expects to be designated owner-operator of the Kenya Nuclear Research Reactor project, but the Ministry of Energy has yet to make the appointment, according to The Star. The Kenya Nuclear Regulatory Authority will provide independent oversight. NuPEA has set up a nuclear research reactor department, but only five of its 25 proposed positions have been filled, said Winfred Ndubai, NuPEA's director of strategy and planning. The agency expects to recruit about 110 staff in time.

KBC said Abdulrazak spoke during an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review Mission for a New Research Reactor (INIR-RR) Phase Two hosted by NuPEA in Nairobi, run under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said Kenya has been placed in phase two of the agency's three-phase framework. Kenya has been an IAEA member since 1965, The Star reported.

The research reactor will complement plans for a nuclear power plant in Siaya County, The Star said, with electricity expected to reach the national grid in 2034. Wabuyabo said, as quoted by KBC, that Kenya will break ground next year, in 2027, on the first 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Siaya.

KBC reported that the Konza reactor would put Kenya among 55 countries with research reactors, eight of them in Africa.