Opinion
As Africa eyes nuclear energy to meet growing energy demands – is continent ready to handle related risks?
Countries like Senegal and Tunisia are considering the possibility of extracting uranium as a by-product during fertilizer production from phosphate rock.
But even as countries on the continent eye nuclear power, questions of safety linger.
Concerns have been raised over the absence of a culture of maintenance.
Kenya, for example, suffers frequent power blackouts due to maintenance issues at its hydroelectric power plants, while most of Nigeria’s gas thermal plants and hydro-power stations were operating below capacity in 2006 due to lack of government investment in maintenance.
Source: The East African
