Opinion
As Africa eyes nuclear energy to meet growing energy demands – is continent ready to handle related risks?
Uganda’s current installed capacity is 1,000 MW.
In Ghana, the country’s nuclear power program started in 1961 with the establishment of the Kwabenya nuclear reactor project, which was then cancelled in 1966 when the government was overthrown in a military coup.
In 1994, the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, with assistance from IAEA, acquired a 30kW neutron reactor.
A presidential committee was set up in May 2007 to assess the feasibility of nuclear power for electricity generation. Currently, a Nuclear Bill has received Cabinet approval and is before Ghana’s parliament.
Both Egypt and South Africa have made considerable progress in nuclear energy development.
According to Ahmed Ibrahim of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority, Egypt, renewed its quest to tap into the energy source as an option for electricity generation in 2006.
In October 2007, then president Hosni Mubarak launched an initiative to start developing nuclear power plants that are expected to generate 5,000 MW by 2027. The country is currently in the bidding process, having been delayed by the Arab Spring uprising.
South Africa, a country that accounts for 60 percent of all of Africa’s energy production (Africa as a whole generates only 3.1 percent of the world’s electricity), has two nuclear reactors generating 5 percent of its electricity.
