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Nuclear energy power plant by 2018
– Dr Aggrey-Ntim
Accra, June 2, Ghanadot/GNA – Dr.
Benjamin Aggrey-Ntim, Minister of Communication, on Monday
announced that cabinet has agreed that Ghana should have
nuclear energy power plant by 2018 to produce 400 megawatts
of electricity to production from hydro and thermal sources.
He said Ghana had been self sufficient till the recent past
when it started having problems and that had called for the
search for an alternative source of power production.
Dr Aggrey-Ntim, opening a one-week Regional Training Course
for Trainers in the use of ICT Training Materials in Nuclear
Analytical Techniques, charged nuclear scientists to
collaborate with the government to make the project a
success.
He said: “You must be serious because what you’ve learnt in
the past would be put to test and we appeal to you all to
make the project to come to fruition.”
Fifteen African countries are participating in the course,
being organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency
and supported by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).
The course is aimed at training experienced professionals in
effective use of ICT-based teaching materials for nuclear
analytical techniques.
The participants would be responsible for teaching and
training students and users of nuclear analytical techniques
applied in environmental pollution monitoring, industry,
agriculture, human health and geology.
The Minister said fear, which was the result of ignorance,
was the main reason for the delay in implementing nuclear
power plant on the continent and urged the participants to
engage in discussions as to how to manage and provide
security for the new plant that would come to Africa.
“This is the time for nuclear scientists to expose such
things to allay peoples’ fear about nuclear power and its
significance to the continent,” he added.
Dr Aggrey-Ntim therefore charged them to research into the
comparative analysis between hydro power and nuclear power
studies and the different skills needed to actually run a
nuclear power plant.
They were also asked to find out radiation levels emitted
around nuclear power stations and make networking
arrangements with other developed countries on the topic.
Professor Geoffery Emi-Reynolds, Acting Director General of
GAEC, said the IAEA, with the help of some African
Consultants, had put together an educational tool in nuclear
analytical techniques in the form of ICT materials in which
three areas namely, alpha, gamma and x-ray fluorescence
spectroscopic techniques, were treated.
He said the conventional form of education or training
through fellowships or group training suffered a number of
drawbacks, such as limited access, cost effectiveness,
language and/or cultural barriers.
“Group training for instance is not generally capable of
addressing individual needs or responding to varying levels
of comprehension, pace and ability. ICT on the other hand,
allows individual differences in the goals, learning styles
and abilities of users while providing feedback on progress
made and results achieved, thus enhancing productivity and
positively impacting national development needs and
programmes,” he noted.
Prof. Emi-Reynolds, therefore, commended the IAEA for the
crucial role it is playing in promoting nuclear science and
technology in Ghana and Africa.
Dr Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of the Kofi Annan Centre
of Excellence in ICT, blamed the inability of science to
respond effectively to the needs of technology on the
failure of the undergraduate system of education.
“We’re not preparing people to do innovative research to
test the frontiers of the sciences.”
She also reiterated the need to have effective and
collaborative networking to share ideas and experience and
as well as attract young graduates to join them on the
teaching field to teach nuclear sciences.
Professor John H. Amuasi, Dean, School of Nuclear and Allied
Sciences (SNAS), said the School was currently running
programmes to prepare students in nuclear engineering and
gave the assurance that, “God willing, the country will be
ready to take off in 2018.”
He said 78 per cent of France’s energy was from nuclear
power, adding, “we are more than ready as a continent to
also go into generation of nuclear power for electricity”.
GNA
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