Professor Nyarko appointed new Director-General of GAEC

Accra, Feb. 8, GNA - Professor Benjamin Jabez Botwe Nyarko, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert and consultant has been appointed Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC). His appointment takes effect from March 1, 2012, and he takes over from Applied Nuclear Physics Professor Edward Horga Kordzo Akaho who retires as Director-General of GAEC on February 29, 2012.

A statement from the Public Affairs Unit of the Commission in Accra on Wednesday said Prof. Nyarko was appointed as the Director-General in accordance with Article 195, Clause 3, of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana through a Search Committee. It said as the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Disciplinary Officer and the IAEA National Liaison Officer (NLO) in Ghana, he would be responsible for the effective co-ordination of research, scientific, technical and educational matters.

He is also expected to oversee the promotion and enhancement of nuclear science and technology in Ghana and ensure the implementation of IAEA Treaties on Nuclear Safeguards and Conventions on Nuclear Safety and Security in the country. Prof. Nyarko who held a Ph.D degree in Physics through an IAEA “sandwich” programme between Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada and University of Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2007, is also a product of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1990 and proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon for his M. Phil. in 1999.

The statement said Prof. Nyarko attended Asankrangwa Secondary School and Labone Secondary School where he passed the General Certificate Examination Ordinary and Advance Levels respectively. It indicated that prior to his new appointment, Prof. Nyarko was the Deputy Director-General of the Commission since June 2011.

Prof. Nyarko has also been a lecturer in Nuclear Engineering, Applied Nuclear Physics and Nuclear and Radio-chemistry at the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS), University of Ghana-Atomic Campus and had authored about 123 articles of which 91 were on International and National peer-reviewed Journals (80 in International and 11 Local Journals) and 32 conference papers and technical reports. He has supervised and co-supervised several graduates (PhD & M. Phil.) and undergraduate students from Ghana and several African Universities.

Prof. Nyarko is a Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Physics, member of International Radiation Physics Society, Fellow/Vice-President, Ghana Nuclear Society and Member of the International Committee on Activation Analysis (ICAA). He was appointed Assistant Research Scientist at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in October 1994 and later promoted to Chief Research Scientist and Professor in June 2010.

Prof. Nyarko also served as the Head of Department of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science from February to August 2007 and the Director of National Nuclear Research Institute in September 2007.

He has participated in some IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) Projects and Coordinated Research Projects (CRP) and currently, the IAEA Project Scientific Consultant (PSC) for the Project RAF/4/022, “Enhancing Research Reactor Utilisation and Safety.

Prof. Nyarko has attended several IAEA Technical and Consultative Meetings and served as an expert for IAEA on Research Reactor Utilisation and Safety and Nuclear Power and the national project counterpart of GHA/4/012: “Upgrading of the Micro-computer close loop system at the Ghana Research Reactor-1 facility” and now project counterpart of the project GHA/0/011: Evaluating the Role of Nuclear Power in Future Options for Electricity Generation in Ghana”.

He is married to Mrs Veronica Nyarko and have four children.

GNA