Eskom’s Elsie Pule on stage with Rosatom’s Tatiana Terentieva. (Supplied/Eskom)
Eskom and Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom have signed a training “action plan” that aims to increase employment for African graduates of Russian universities.
According to Eskom, the plan includes joint education programmes for employees; joint degree programmes among Rosatom and Eskom partner universities; and a train-the-trainers hydrogen programme developed by Rosatom.
The companies further agreed on co-programming the Obninsk Tech School for Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) that takes place in June in the Russian town of Obninsk, which this year celebrates the 70th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear power plant.
Eskom and Rosatom employees will also participate in the Eskom Women’s Conference, the Obninsk NEW International Youth Nuclear Forum, and the BRICS Youth Energy Summit.
“The plan also highlights secondment of engineering competencies and development of championships for professional skills,” Eskom said in a statement.
“The plan contributes to practical steps towards bringing highly qualified and talented African graduates from Russian universities to Eskom enterprises across the continent.”
Eskom’s group executive for human resources, Elsie Pule, said: “This action plan is firmly aligned to Eskom’s and Rosatom’s shared commitment in empowering women and the youth by enriching their knowledge and skills through training programmes in their chosen career fields.”
In 2014, South Africa agreed that Rosatom would build up to eight nuclear reactors in SA, to supply up to 9.6GW of power.
The plan fell apart when it turned out that then-president Jacob Zuma, who had reportedly personally struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had neither the authority nor political support to bind South Africa to what would have been its biggest procurement deal ever.