Nuclear power plants
Questions have emerged about plans by Kenya to continue investing heavily in the research and development of nuclear power to meet the country’s rising energy demands in the wake of concerns about the safety of the technology.
Following the shocking Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster in March this year bias over the need to replace atomic power with renewable energy sources is gaining currency in many parts of the world underpinned by the long-standing debate over the extremely high costs and rigorous safety requirements of nuclear energy development. This time however, the debate has evolved into decisive action with most countries especially in the West moving to re-examine and alter their nuclear policies. Amid all the debate on the viability of nuclear power due to its safety concerns and high cost factors and as first world nations move towards shunning atomic power in favour of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro, observers have raised questions on whether there is need for Kenya to channel enormous financial resources towards research and development of nuclear energy.
Nuclear power stations are extremely expensive to build. In addition the maintenance and running of the power plants call for rigorous and costly safety requirements. According to David Maina, the director of the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INST), at University of Nairobi, Kenya’s nuclear energy initiative is expected to set back the country a staggering Ksh 80 billion (U$ 1 billion). Already sites for possible nuclear power plants have been identified in areas in the Kenyan coast and Western Kenya near Lake Victoria. Consequently an environmental study in the identified sites is slated to commence once the Radiation Protection Board and the National Environment Management Authority approve them. Among European countries that have prominently implemented policy changes marking this global shift from nuclear energy development include Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
European industrial power house, Germany, recently announced a reversal of policy that will see all its nuclear power plants phased out by 2022. An estimated 12 percent of Germany’s electricity consumption comes from nuclear power. Despite these however, Germany says it plans to shut down all its nuclear reactors by 2020. The government is investing in other energy sources, such as wind power.The country has already shut down 7 of its own nuclear reactors and the remainder will be subject to a safety review by the independent Reactor Safety Commission. This is notwithstanding the fact that Germany’s energy sector is one of the biggest in the world and the nation is also one of Europe’s largest consumers of electricity. Explaining the changing stance on nuclear power German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized the need for “safer and at the same time reliable and affordable” energy. “We learned from Fukushima that we have to deal differently with risks,” she said. Another European industrial giant, Italy, has turned its back too on nuclear power. Recently Italians voted in a referendum overwhelmingly to give up nuclear energy. The Swiss government is the other nation to have joined the fray, announcing recently, that it plans to end its use of nuclear energy in the next 2 or 3 decades. “The government has voted for a phase-out because we want to ensure a secure and autonomous supply of energy,” Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said while explaining the decision. “Fukushima showed that the risk of nuclear power is too high, which in turn has also increased the costs of this energy form.” Statistics show that safety measures implemented by the Swiss Government on its nuclear plants have proved to be hugely expensive with one plant known as the Beznau 1 plant having spent an estimated more than $ 1billion on supplementary diesel generators, which would, in the event of an earthquake, cool down the fuel rods in an attempt to prevent a meltdown. Kenya seems intent however on going on with its nuclear programme. Speaking in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster Ochilo Ayacko the Nuclear Electricity Development Project chairman maintained that the incident in Japan ‘only served as a lesson on the safety measures Kenya would adopt while implementing the project.’ “By the time we are authorised, the International Atomic Energy Agency will have come and reviewed Kenya and said that Kenya is ready to use nuclear technology,” Ayacko told journalists in the wake of the incident in March. His view not only greatly contrasts with that fast gaining currency in energy circles in the world at the moment but also with that of other energy experts who believe that other forms of renewable energy supplies are the only way forward for Kenya to deal with her energy demands. Locally many energy experts are also of the opinion that Kenya can cost effectively deal with her energy demands by harnessing her abundant resources of renewable energy such as geothermal. Speaking recently when he took the press on a tour of a new geothermal site under development in the Rift Valley, GDC managing director Dr. Silas Simiyu called for support in the development and harnessing of geothermal energy saying it marked a tried and tested cost effective option for the country to rid herself her energy challenges. Simiyu noted that indeed Kenya could rid herself off its energy challenges in less than five years following the strike of geothermal steam in the first of a projected 120 geothermal wells in the Menengai area. And in what he said could be a game changer for the country in dealing with her energy needs, Dr. Simiyu said the model of harnessing geothermal energy employed by GDC in striking steam in the first well in the area, is not only fast but also low cost as compared with other models of harnessing geothermal energy. “This well has been drilled at half the costs of the other wells that are normally drilled here in Kenya,” said Dr Simiyu during the opening of the first well in Menengai in May. The reduction in the cost of drilling and the concept of early well head generation unit Dr. Simiyu explained will bring down the cost of power generated by a half. “When we use our rigs and our engineers, we cut the cost of drilling by 50 percent. Our own drills have enabled us to keep it running. This is a major saving on the part of the government and it means that it will have a corresponding drop on the electricity tariffs when its steam is converted into electricity,” he said. The Menengai area is said to have the largest potential for geothermal generation in the world apart from “The Geysers” the world’s largest geothermal facility, built in the 1950s on a steam field in Northern California. The Parliamentary Committee on Energy has since expressed reservations on the government’s plan for continued investment in nuclear energy development with one of its Committe members Nicholas Gumbo, saying ‘Kenya could be very reckless if it decides to go nuclear before developing local human resource capacity in terms of nuclear scientists’.
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