FG should forget about building proposed nuclear power plant

A Coalition of civil society organisations in Abuja, under the aegis of Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP), has called on the Federal Government to jettison the proposed nuclear power plant programme, because it lacks the discipline and technology to manage such a plant.

Addressing newsmen on its recommendations for a 2018 low carbon budgeting framework in Abuja, Executive Director of CWP, Eze Onyekpere, wondered why the government was considering venturing into the acquisition of a nuclear power plant, especially with its complicated nature.

He said Nigeria does not have the discipline and technology to manage a nuclear plant,

Onyekpere stated that despite their advancement in technology, a number of advanced countries had already set timelines for the complete shutdown of their nuclear power plant programme, while others were unable to foresee and prevent disasters from their plants.

He added that Russia, which is to build the nuclear plant for Nigeria, was not able to foresee the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union, while Japan, with all its advancements had to suffer a nuclear meltdown.

He said, “The Federal Government should stop budgetary investments in nuclear power considering that we neither have the technology and capacity to run nuclear plants. Other countries like Germany are closing down nuclear power plants. The disposal of nuclear fuels is an issue that no one has been able to tackle.”

To address the country’s power challenges, Onyekpere advocated the development of mini electricity grids considering the very poor state of the bigger national grid and the absence of plans to improve the national grid.

He also advocated the use of off-grid renewable energy solution to increase rural electrification, considering the very poor state of the national grid.