nuclear-news

Opposition to nuclear power for Nigeria

critics are worried that the project will do the country more harm  than good. They say the effect of radioactive substance cuts across both geography and politics, and if not properly managed, may compromise not only the lives of the present generation but also several generations yet unborn.

What Nigeria needs now is investment in safe alternatives that will not harm the environment and the people.

Furore over nuclear power plant in Nigeria The Guardian, 06 SEPTEMBER 2012 00:00 FROM CHUKWUMA MUANYA AND EMEKA ANUFORO,  FOCUS PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and the relevant agencies set up to actualize Nigeria’s dream of becoming a “nuclear power” are excited that the national nuclear power programme has reached an advanced stage.

Nigeria and Russian had in June begun implementation of a nuclear power generation agreement signed in June 2009, to facilitate cooperation on the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Although President Jonathan at the opening of the Nuclear Security
Summit in Seoul, the South Korean capital in March 2012, assured the
global community that Nigeria would do everything possible to ensure
that adequate safety measures were deployed when the country
introduced nuclear power into its energy mix, the recent Fukushima
nuclear disaster in Japan has opened the eyes of the world to the
dangers of nuclear power……
critics are worried that the project will do the country more harm  than good. They say the effect of radioactive substance cuts across both geography and politics, and if not properly managed, may compromise not only the lives of the present generation but also several generations yet unborn.

They say Nigeria should learn from the Japanese experience as well as
from the worst nuclear accident in humankind history, the Ukrainian
Chernobyl disaster of 1986, ranked seventh on International Nuclear
Event Scale (INES)…….
The Guardian learnt that the planned nuclear power plants are to be
located in unnamed locations in Lagos, Ondo, Cross River and Adamawa
states.

The Federal Executive Council in 2007 endorsed the National Nuclear
Power Roadmap that consists of a three-phase technical framework
developed by the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC)…..
This week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is convening
a special meeting of stakeholders to discuss technical developments
and research programmes in site evaluation and nuclear plant safety,
particularly as they relate to extreme natural hazards such as
earthquake and tsunamis.

The meeting kicked-off in Vienna on Tuesday with over 120 experts and
government officials from 37 countries, and sundry stakeholders.

Undeterred by the call in some quarters for the world to put the brake
on nuclear power projects, the IAEA recently assured that nuclear
power was far safer than it was a year ago as the nuclear industry,
regulators and governments act on the lessons of Fukushima.

IAEA said it has developed a new methodology for assessing the safety
vulnerabilities of nuclear power plants, which have already been used
on an IAEA expert mission to review the approach taken by Japan in its
own plant safety assessment……..
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN)
is worried about the insistence of the government to go ahead with its
nuclear power programme.

Executive Director of the group, Nnimmo Bassey told The Guardian: “We
cannot see the logic behind government’s support for a technology that
former promoters in Europe and other technologically advanced nations
are now putting their brakes on. What Nigeria needs now is investment in safe alternatives that will not harm the environment and the people.”

September 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Nigeria, politics