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The odds against nuclear-generated electricity

Recent reports that the Federal Government is giving serious consideration to sourcing additional electricity from nuclear energy, has to be spine grating.
PHOTO: en.wikipedia.org

PHOTO: en.wikipedia.org

Recent reports that the Federal Government is giving serious consideration to sourcing additional electricity from nuclear energy, has to be spine grating. The ambition, as an aspect of modernization may be healthy and attractive but, can and should a country, literally broken and grounded by indiscipline and corruption-driven incompetence, take on and manage the very high cost, enormous risks and dangers of the highly sophisticated and potentially dangerous business of harnessing nuclear technology for electricity generation and distribution? The first and only other state in the West African region with a gifted nuclear reactor, if it is still operational, wisely uses it for medical research.

In the seventies of the last century, a better-disciplined military government took good advice and decided not to open the nuclear front for electricity generation. At a time of healthy economic performances, the then enormously high cost of eighty million to eight hundred million dollars ($80,000,000- $800, 000,000) per German water-cooled reactor, raised hairs and the economics of the enterprise put the project out of the reach of the country. A National Atomic Energy Agency was actively considered and quickly shelved by a highly responsible and responsive government. This was before the fairly well contained disasters of Chernobyl in the then USSR and more recent Fukushima in Japan, two highly disciplined, successful industrialised and high tech states and societies.

We are in 2016 and Nigeria remains heavily import-dependent even in food and refined petroleum products. The country is struggling to maintain and manage its ageing hydro, gas and mechanical sources of electricity generation which regularly fail to produce and deliver the installed capacity of 4000MW. Five petroleum refineries have been run aground, the criminal farce of our squandering millions of petrodollars on dubious gains in acquiring space technology, failed iron and steel, paper production at Ajaokuta and Iwopin respectively lead the catalogue of shameful failures and gargantuan corruption and waste which characterize our national technology window and history.

These, most fortunately, are passive and safe areas of technology and carry no serious risks of major ecological disasters and/or huge losses of life as they fail us and we fail them. Yet, managing nuclear capacity, its installations, systems and facilities is highly sophisticated industrial science and technology requiring even at the lowest and ground levels, an industrial society whose citizenry is knowledge driven and protected. Are we such a society? Have we created such a citizenry? Shamefully, the answer is no.

Happily the country is in the hands of a disciplined retired General who was in the past punished for wanting to take Nigeria away from the path of failure to that of success and greatness. He has now like France’s Charles de Gaulle, been popularly elected to pilot the country out of the threat of disaster, social insecurity and economic immobilism. Surprisingly he has been reported, hopefully wrongly, as showing more than a passive interest in the idea of sourcing electricity from nuclear energy.

Does anyone know better than President Buhari that Nigeria is economically on its knees? Should anyone know better than Buhari the pain and shame of a collapsing state and society he has been elected to address, arrest and reverse? Need Buhari be warned or reminded that he is surrounded by a public service culture of deep moral and material corruption? Must Buhari’s nose be rubbed in the shame of our staggering failure and incompetence in managing education, health, agriculture, communications and other vital socio-economic infrastructures?

Dealing with the above should be more than enough to stun and challenge a superman. President Buhari is only a human being, adequately steeped in high moral fibre; and one can only imagine, wounded and tortured by a high level of desire for change. If these are distantly correct observations, he must not be lured into seeing nuclear power as a quick fix for boosting electricity generation in Nigeria. He must avoid adding to Nigeria’s woes or committing her to the path of dangerous and disastrous adventurism, especially, at a time when all efforts must be focused on matters basic – security, full and youth employment, diversification of the economy for growth and development, restoration of infrastructural efficiency and effectiveness, punishing of high crimes committed by highly placed persons as is going on in Brazil, to name the obvious.
To leave these undone or badly executed is to reinforce the near certainty of Nigeria as a failed experiment and as a wholly African managed enterprise like Haiti. To move from this horrid possibility and open the nuclear front at this point in time, is to put at risk whatever remains of the integrity, intelligence and courage of Nigeria’s leadership under President Muhammed Buhari. To expose the Nigerian population to the risk, danger and possible disaster of a nuclear meltdown is to commit a crime of historic proportion.

On moral and material grounds, this cannot be the time for Nigeria to begin thinking of investing in nuclear energy or actively examining the possibility. We cannot, should not and must not divert what will become a huge chunk of our dwindling resources to buying nuclear reactors, storing nuclear waste, and importing the danger of a nuclear meltdown in a society whose state structures cannot efficiently or effectively manage a major road accident or deliver basic technological goods and services to its population. Nigeria cannot acquire at this point or even receive as a gift, a deranged bull elephant which is what a nuclear reactor basically is; a disaster waiting to happen even in the most capable of societies.

We of course now have a breed of public servants who will likely push this project and programme but only see nuclear energy as another safe avenue for milking the Nigerian cow, even if it is now ailing and gaunt.

• TAO is Ambassador Timothy A. Otunla.

8 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    The writer may be from the Yoruba. You know the problem and negative side of nuclear energy, but you don’t have any solution to it.
    Your point seem ok, but your argument is opposite. Is Buhari intelligence questionable if Nigeria needs intelligent brain to run her affairs?
    Federal character, majority wins and concentration of power and resources by federal government does not work anymore. Finding how it will work is stupid. Rather, professionalism and expertise, smart few win, and decentralization of power and resources to states will bring competition, collaboration and growth that Nigeria needs.

  • Author’s gravatar

    God has blessed us with a wide coastal stretch of land to harvest electricity from the wind and the wind itself is free. Again, God has blessed us with a sunny weather in large swathes of the country. This raw material is also free and safe. Imagine how many thousands of megawatts of electricity we could be harvesting if we should harness all efforts towards tapping these God-given free raw material. Alternative energy that is environment friendly constitute more than 70% of the world’s source of power today.
    Apart from costs, we cannot manage or maintain a nuclear reactor without risking the dangers from failure in adequate management. If countries like Russia and Japan are struggling with it; if Germany is dismantling its nuclear plants and searching for buyers, does that not ring an alarm bell in our ears?
    The argument about whether or not Nigeria should build nuclear plants is constituting a distraction from focussing on cheaper, eco-friendly alternatives. We should stop thinking about building nuclear reactors and instead focus our attention on alternative sources which material abound in our country and are free. That is what the world is doing today. We should not isolate ourselves from participating with other countries of the world in this regard. We are lagging behind already…

  • Author’s gravatar

    “The first and only other state in the West African region with a gifted nuclear reactor, if it is still operational, wisely uses it for medical research.”
    My question: Which of the Western African Country is this? Your article failed to tell us!
    Nuclear, is certainly not the way to go. I have said so and given reasons for this position. Unless, we just just to finish the country patapata!

  • Author’s gravatar

    Part of living is risk and no country can advance without taking risk. And as such, if nuclear energy is the only way out of our darkness, then we should give it a trial. Nigerians are afraid of nuclear power but would do anything to steal from the government. Nuclear energy might put an end to corruption in Nigeria.

    • Author’s gravatar

      This is not kind of risk that you take, especially for a country like Nigeria. And most especially when you have alternatives that are cheaper and safer. our power problem is not lack of raw material, it is purely the lack of leadership. we have all the resources to generate electricity to completely power the nation and supply to our neighbors.

      • Author’s gravatar

        From creation, we have had all these cheap and safe energies but what has our leaders done? I think we are a nation of cowards. Everything in life is risk and for to see light, we must go nuclear. Corrupt politicians would be made to work at the nuclear station.

  • Author’s gravatar

    A failed valve gate was what saved Tokyo from nuclear holocaust from Fukushima. Till now their is leakage of radioactive water from the plant and TEPCO and the Japanese government don’t even know what is going on in two of the reactors. Japan has gone from 52 nuclear power plants to 2. Right now there is a plant leaking radioactive water near Florida. What about 3 mile island and Chernobyl? Where would we keep spent fuel rods? In an age where the west is jettisoning nuclear power and looking for who to buy this yet unmastered technology, my dear countrymen are clamoring to be the dumping ground. Abeg, Oby, change BBOG to NIMB – #NotInMyBackyard!

  • Author’s gravatar

    This is one of the best article I have read about an issue in a long while. it is up to the Nigeria people and leaders like this writer to ensure that no administration ever go down the road of doing this. if Nigerian’s can shut down the economy because of protest of fuel increase. we need to shut down the country to send the message we don’t ever want this. if this is the price of progress, then let Nigeria remain where it is and be safe. The sad part of this, is that Nigeria doesn’t need this. most country that pursue this have limited option to generate the electricity they need. Germany is a country that doesn’t get half the sun light Nigeria get, yet they are powering their economy with solar and other renewable. They are closing down their nuclear plants at great cost. Japan is an island with limited resources to generate electricity, but they are no looking at renewable alternative. Nigeria is so blessed that we have option. we have water, sunlight, wind, biomass, waste, huge amount of gas, oil and even coal to generate all the electricity we need and more for decades. we must all rise up and shut this idea down forever.