In its bid to address the importance of uninterrupted power supply and energy needs, the environment and concerns about climate change, the Federal Government of Nigeria has finally moved to establish nuclear energy power plants. The move was recently announced by the Federal Minister of Science and Technology who disclosed after a Federal Executive Council Meeting that the Federal government has approved plans to build nuclear power plants over the next 10-15 years. The government estimates that the project, which would bring in the “elements of power plants”, would cost about $6 billion.
Besides the certainty that nuclear plants take a much longer time to construct than almost, if not all other types of power plants, they also cost more “up front” and involve serious investment downsize (particularly, if things go wrong) than any other power generating station. This is because electricity demand is not always constant and also relatively difficult to estimate. As a result, the cost of building a nuclear power plant which typically takes into consideration a convergence of interest rates and inflationary rates is usually financially speculative.
Nonetheless, the goal and objective of the nuclear power plant project, according to the Government, is very clear: to be an emerging industrialized nation that can generate about 30,000 to 40,000 megawatts (MW). Indeed, if this is the goal, Nigeria has no other alternative but to endorse nuclear energy. This is because the country’s electricity needs cannot be met solely by hydro-electric power generation and gas-fired plants which have proven to be disastrous experiments. It is a fact that not only household consumers suffer from the erratic power generation, investors cite constant power outages as a major factor in the country's top economic barriers.
Despite the fact that the current administration has spent about $2.5 billion to build seven new gas-fired plants following the failure of the old power stations to improve output and productivity (in spite of millions of Dollars poured into it since the inception of this administration), millions of Nigerians still do not have access to electricity and for those who do, power outages lasting hours or even several days have become a way of life.
Both the private and public sector organizations spend significant amount of money every year on diesel-fuelled generators to keep offices and industries running. It is therefore important that we require a reasonable combination of nuclear energy with our hydro power generation and gas-fired plants if the country is really serious bout industrializing, increasing productivity and encouraging foreign investment. Hence, for a government that requires the atom-splitting energy for peaceful purposes, the decision is a welcome development.
The private sector, particularly financial institutions should support this move and become a driving force behind the government’s new enthusiasm for nuclear energy in order to end the growing demand for electricity with fleet of generating plants whose smoke emissions pollute the environment - the amount of carbon dioxide that nuclear power plants do not put into the air.
Nuclear energy is one economic sector that has been greatly misunderstood by many including environmentalists, the academia and policy makers who until recently (thanks to the changes in the technology), argued among other reasons that nuclear energy will increase the risk of nuclear proliferation. This led to the passage of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) which opened for signature on July 1, 1968. The NPT has three pillars namely: non-proliferation, disarmament and the right to peacefully use nuclear technology. Nigeria, like many other countries has ratified the treaty.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });