By Michael Mangala
One of the resolution that was reached at last year’s 1st National Energy Conference, held in October, 2008 was for the government to consider adding nuclear energy option to its electricity energy generation mix.
At the moment, Kenya is going through an energy deficit of 3,000 megawatts albeit it’s current production of 1,100 megawatts.
Harnessing nuclear energy for electricity generation requires a huge initial capital investment, estimated at more than Sh80 billion ($ 1 billion), but whose operating costs are very low in the electricity generation industry.
Across the world, nuclear power plants provide 17 per cent of the world’s total supply of electricity estimated at 372 gigawatts.
They produce practical no emissions of carbon, sulphur or nitrogen oxides emissions.
At least five countries, including France, Sweden, and Belgium, rely on nuclear power for more than 50 per cent of their total electrical energy supplies.
Another 10 countries including; Finland, Japan, Spain Republic of Korea and Switzerland rely on nuclear plants to provide 30 per cent or more of their total supplies.
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Many developing countries including; Argentine, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Pakistan, have operational nuclear power plants. Worldwide, there are more than 430 reactors in operation.
Without sustainable energy supplies in developing countries, efforts to create wealth and improve living standards cannot be realised.
It’s with this in mind that our government is presently seeking alternative energy sources.
But, with the understanding of how important exploiting nuclear power is; the Kenya Government will not afford to go it alone. There must be a mutual cooperation between Kenya, development partners and other specialised agencies like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in sharing of experiences, expertise training and provision of facilities.
Furthermore, the country needs to enact laws that are supportive of the development of nuclear technologies infrastructure and also provide for their long-term sustainability.
For the majority of people, nuclear science is associated with war; atomic bombs, that even a discussion of nuclear science applications alone is avoided, like plague.
Most programmes in our institutions, therefore, attract little local support and financing as a result.
But nuclear science technologies applications are diverse and many and the benefits includes: increased food production, the medical diagnosis and treatment of diseases, exploitation of natural resources such as water and mineral resources exploration and their management, industrial development and consequently, job creation —all these embraced in our Vision 2030.
However, in a world where safety and security is of concern and a factor in development —the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) foresee peaceful uses of nuclear energy technologies. Kenya is a member state of the IAEA since 1965 and is signatory of IAEA’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Since then, the country has actively participated in various IAEA programmes on application of nuclear techniques, locally implemented at our various institutions of research and universities.
The National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) is the IAEA liaison office that coordinates all IAEA supported projects.
These projects have contributed significantly to support the Government’s efforts towards developing the national nuclear science and technology infrastructure.
The University of Nairobi, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology offers postgraduate training programmes in nuclear science in addition to providing consultancies on utilisation of nuclear technologies in the country.
For many years, the country has gained from IAEA’s Technical Cooperation support programmes in many technical areas. To date, there are 12 national projects and 35 regional or interregional IAEA supported projects, which include human resource development, human health, agriculture and livestock production, industrial application, energy planning, radiation protection and radioactive waste Management.
A highlight of some of these on-going projects include: radiological protection of patients against radiation exposure; expansion of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine facilities; combating desertification; management of cancer; testing of consumer products; utilisation and sustainability of IT ; promoting university teaching of nuclear science application for development; nuclear security-screening of illicit trafficked radioactive materials at our ports of entry; improvement of livestock productivity through integrated application of technologies; promotion of Non- Destructive Testing (NDT) in industry and construction among many.
It’s not debatable therefore, that meeting present and future energy demands will require a substantial energy input than is present to realise industrialisation.
HEAVY POLLUTANTS
The generation of electric power in most countries remains largely dependent on hydro and fossil fuels—oil, coal, gases which are heavy pollutants to the global environment, especially carbon dioxide which is believed to be principally responsible for global warming.
Like every other source of energy, nuclear power generates wastes that must be managed and disposed off properly.
The technologies for safe disposal of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes are well proven and extensively utilised in IAEA member states.
The nuclear community is conscious of its responsibilities, and collectively invests more on safety measures than any other comparable industry.
The Government plans to develop facilities for the management of the radioactive wastes.
Mr Mangala is a lecturer, Institute of Nuclear and Technology at the University of Nairobi.
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