Ghana To Have Nuclear Energy Power Plant By 2018

Dr Benjamin Aggrey-Ntim, Minister for Communication, yesterday announced that cabinet has agreed that Ghana should have nuclear energy power plant by 2018 to produce 400 megawatts of electricity in addition to the hydro and thermal sources. He said Ghana had been self sufficient till the recent past when it started having problems and that had called for the search for an alternative source of power production.

Dr Aggrey-Ntim, opening a one-week Regional Training Course for Trainers in the use of ICT Training Materials in Nuclear Analytical Techniques, charged nuclear scientists to collaborate with the government to make the project a success. He said: 'You must be serious because what you've learnt in the past would be put to test and we appeal to you all to make the project come to fruition.'

Fifteen African countries are participating in the course, being organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency and supported by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).

The course is aimed at training experienced professionals in effective use of ICT-based teaching materials for nuclear analytical techniques.

The participants would be responsible for teaching and training students and users of nuclear analytical techniques applied in environmental pollution monitoring, industry, agriculture, human health and geology.

The Minister said fear, which was the result of ignorance, was the main reason for the delay in implementing nuclear power plant on the continent and urged the participants to engage in discussions as to how to manage and provide security for the new plant that would come to Africa.

'This is the time for nuclear scientists to expose such things to allay peoples' fear about nuclear power and its significance to the continent,' he added.

Dr Aggrey-Ntim therefore charged them to research into the comparative analysis between hydro power and nuclear power studies and the different skills needed to actually run a nuclear power plant.

They were also asked to find out radiation levels emitted around nuclear power stations and make networking arrangements with other developed countries on the topic.

Professor Geoffery Emi-Reynolds, Acting Director General of GAEC, said the IAEA, with the help of some African Consultants, had put together an educational tool in nuclear analytical techniques in the form of ICT materials in which three areas namely, alpha, gamma and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopic techniques, were treated.

He said the conventional form of education or training through fellowships or group training suffered a number of drawbacks, such as limited access, cost effectiveness, language and/or cultural barriers.

'Group training for instance is not generally capable of addressing individual needs or responding to varying levels of comprehension, pace and ability. ICT on the other hand, allows individual differences in the goals, learning styles and abilities of users while providing feedback on progress made and results achieved, thus enhancing productivity and positively impacting national development needs and programmes,' he noted.

Prof Emi-Reynolds, therefore, commended the IAEA for the crucial role it is playing in promoting nuclear science and technology in Ghana and Africa.

Dr Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, blamed the inability of science to respond effectively to the needs of technology on the failure of the undergraduate system of education. 'We're not preparing people to do innovative research to test the frontiers of the sciences.'

She also reiterated the need to have effective and collaborative networking to share ideas and experience and as well as attract young graduates to join them on the teaching field to teach nuclear sciences.

Professor John H. Amuasi, Dean, School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS), said the School was currently running programmes to prepare students in nuclear engineering and gave the assurance that, 'God willing, the country will be ready to take off in 2018.' He said 78 per cent of France's energy was from nuclear power, adding, 'we are more than ready as a continent to also go into generation of nuclear power for electricity.'