Is a Fukshima-type event in store for Nigeria?
The news coming out of Nigeria last week was that the country intended to build nuclear power stations to alleviate chronic power outages in the country. Really?
In a country that in over 50 years of independence, has stubbornly refused to demonstrate any arm of government with excellence or even just basic capability, nuclear power stations are the best way forward?
What Fukushima and Third Mile Island showed us was that even in developed countries with experience in managing advanced technologies, nuclear accidents are still possible.
We are meant to believe that the same type of folks managing NEPA, sorry.. make that PHCN, are going to be able to manage nuclear plants effectively. You’ll have to let me know where those plants are located, so I can live as far away from them as I can.
What makes this doubly foolish is that the push by really forward-looking countries is on renewable energy on an industrial scale. China is building a 2 Gigawatt solar plant, Germany is getting 20% of its power needs from renewables, and Portugal has reached 45% from solar.
We can easily generate several thousand megawatts of power from 2-3 large sized solar energy facilities for a few billion dollars. Easy. Our leaders are probably salivating however at the billions in bribes they will share from nuclear contracts for dangerous facilities.
To these geniuses I ask: where will you dispose of the nuclear waste? In your village? In mine? Who will manage these plants. The same experts who can barely keep the refineries up 25% of the time? Where is our pool of nuclear experts.
Solar power is almost “build it and forget it”. Once built, maintenance is relatively easy. We have sunlight galore close to the equator.
In short, Nigeria needs to stop the nuclear foolishness. Look to wind and solar energy on an industrial scale instead of indulging is backward thinking approaches and future white elephant projects.
