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Developing a Sustainable Nuclear Energy in Nigeria By Marwan Haruna Abdulkarim
The world has so far discovered the negative impacts black gold (petroleum) can have on the climate, consequent upon that research in that area has increased. This has lead to the setting up of an international committee on climate change which will look further in to the facts and ascertain the effects caused as well as give recommendations on the way forward.
In summary the ICCP has released several reports that indicated the effects this has on the climate. Among the recent reports released by this committee is its ascertaining the facts that the increase in global temperature (global warming) is a result of human handiwork caused by the use of fuels that emit greenhouse gases. The most recent report shows that there will be up to 4ᵒc temperature increase in some parts of the world. What this means is that the world can experience devastating effects such as draught, flooding, erosion and extinction of species on the surface of the earth.
Petroleum has been confirmed as a major source of green house gases and its being used as the main source of energy. The energy industry has remained the top in the list of industries where greenhouse gases are emitted. It is therefore not surprising that the world is talking about sources of renewable energy which will have less or no effect to the global temperature.
The renewable sources of energy being considered internationally include solar, wind and nuclear. Several factors such as availability, capability of power generation and cost effectiveness are the main factors considered. Other factors such as the risk and sustainability are taken as secondary by some countries.
The availability of all of these sources of energy in certain countries, made cost effectiveness to be the core factor that is considered, thus leaving other factors. Nigeria being one of the blessed countries in the world in terms of both human and natural resources has begun the journey to nuclear power generation. Thus we discuss here the factors that will provide for the development of a sustainable nuclear power in Nigeria.
Nuclear power Generation of electricity through nuclear energy is generally referred to nuclear power. Uranium which is a radioactive substance is basically used as one of the main sources of nuclear energy. The process involves either fission or fusion of the radioactive substances in the nuclear reactor. Until in the late 1940s, when the world began to understand the viability of using nuclear energy for the generation of electricity, the process was however used for destructive purpose (manufacturing atomic bomb). In those days America was among some countries that started using nuclear energy in generating electricity. Since then nuclear energy has contributed up to 14% of the world’s electricity.
The statistics given by the nuclear energy institute shows that nuclear fuel share on the one hand has reached over 70% in some countries. On the other hand the world nuclear energy generation, as at September 2009 as reported by the institute is 2,597.8 BkWh. America, France, Japan, Russia and Germany are the five main countries that contribute about 70% of the world’s nuclear generation with 806.7 BkWh, 419.8 BkWh, 241.3 BkWh, 152.1 BkWh and 140.9 BkWh respectively.
Nuclear power is categorised among other renewable energy sources like solar and wind as it does not produce carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases that causes global warming. Thus, since climate change (global warming) is believed to be from anthropogenic sources, divesting to nuclear power can retard generation of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
Another advantage of nuclear power is the ability to produce huge amount of energy from small quantity of fuel. Nuclear power is also reliable and although there are debates on the cost of nuclear power, its cost is being compared to that of coal.
The cost of nuclear power if looked at in some directions that include licensing, planning, building, maintenance/safety, waste management and decommissioning of spent plant will make it an expensive alternative renewable energy source. And if not for the government’s subsidy of higher taxes on nuclear power, another huge cost would have been added to it.
Nuclear power is an alibi to nuclear weapons; it is estimated that nuclear reactors can produce plutonium in large quantity that is more than enough to be used for nuclear weapon. It is also poisonous due to release of harmful radiations through any of the processes; mining, transportation, manufacturing and in waste storage which must be buried for many thousands of years. Some of the devastating effects of nuclear radiation that was seen in the world are that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were immediate and acute effects that include instantaneous death in human and animals, cancer, jaundice among others. Similarly, the Chernobyl nuclear accident resulted in lost of lives, land contamination, release of both particulate and gaseous radioisotope in the atmosphere. It is also believed to contribute or be the main cause of other health effects such as cancer and termed the worst nuclear accident in the world.
Nuclear Power project Risks As with any other construction project, nuclear project has its own kind of risks and also share some risks that are similar to other power projects. The world nuclear organisation categorised the risks involved from the development stage to decommissioning stage of a power plant in to three categories: technical, business case and societal & political risks.
Some of the technical risks are regulatory frame work, environmental impact, safety, skilled and experienced work force and transport routes to/from site. The business case involves demand forecast, waste disposal, design changes, delay, electricity price, early closure and decommissioning fund. Societal & political risk can come from the general public who may support or resist the project, policy for waste management and decommissioning as well as the environmental policy.
Summary and Conclusion According to recent media report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said through one of its representatives (Anthony) that Nigeria’s Nuclear Power Programme will be the best in Africa. Anthony is reported to have said that Nigeria has already gone far in regulatory and safety issues on its proposed nuclear power plant.
It is a welcome development and interesting to note that Nigeria has been given credit on the regulatory and safety issues on its proposed nuclear power project; there is however more challenges that the country ought to contain even within the regulatory and safety issues.
Nigeria no doubt is one of the countries that can divest to nuclear energy because of the abundance of Uranium, but the main issue that may jeopardise the project is the implementation of the regulatory and safety issues and the containment of other risks as earlier mentioned.
There is the need for the country to strengthen its environmental agency in a way that the agency will have autonomy so that it will be able to monitor, identify and provide measures on deteriorating conditions before they result in environmental hazards.
The country should establish a health and safety commission that will be able to establish and implement safety practices & risk management measures.
It is not certain if the general public has been made aware of the pros and cons of the project. Thus, it is necessary in the interest of peace to educate the public on the plan. The government should also strengthen its security system so that it will not be used in any way for destructive purpose.
The government should promote research that is aimed at exploring the viability of other renewable energy sources (solar and wind) which are better (environmentally benign) than nuclear energy.
Nigeria can join the group of nations that have divested to nuclear power, but that should be done with extreme caution as it is better to have a more expensive renewable source (solar and wind) that are environmentally benign than to have the nuclear type which is associated with other environmental problems that some generations yet unborn will have to manage.
Marwan Haruna Abdulkarim Center for Research in Energy and the Environment
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