German legislator cautions on nuclear power

A German legislator, Dr Axel Berg, has advised the Kufuor government to be cautious in considering nuclear energy as an option in view of environmental, cost and accessibility implications.

He said maintaining and operating a nuclear grid can be very dear especially considering extending its facility to a vast span of communities in the country.

Additionally, disposing of its waste has environmental implications, he cautioned.

Dr Berg, a member of the 'Bunderstag' or German Parliament, noted that after the second world war, the thinking in Europe was the use of nuclear energy for power needs but that has had its own implications, and the new thinking is towards renewable energies.

He has since 2003 been the deputy spokesman on energy policy for the SPD parliamentary group within the governing coalition,

Dr. Berg who paid a brief visit to the country last week was hosted by the Ghanaian-German Economic Association (GGEA) was involved in drafting the Renewable Energy Source Act (EEG) in 2004 which is one of the most successful functioning instruments for renewable energies.

At an informal roundtable discussion at the GGEA office involving a number of energy related stakeholders, the discussion centered on renewable or alternative sources of energy in light of Ghana's current energy crisis.

The Chief Executive Officer of DENG Limited, Mr Christopher Munteanu urged Dr Berg to lobby the Bundestag to support Ghana's power supply, especially with the partnership of private power suppliers to feed into the national grid.