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HAS ENOUGH EDUCATION BEEN DONE ABOUT NUCLEAR ENERGY
GENERATION IN GHANA?
By Jude Nuru
September 18, 2018
For nuclear advocates, it was refreshing to learn
that the Nuclear Regulatory Power Bill had been
presented to the Parliament of Ghana for it to be
passed into law and that preparations for a nuclear
programme take off were far advanced. This piece of
information, as was sourced from the Public Agenda,
came across as pleasant news, at least, to the
nuclear adherents in Ghana who are convinced without
a shadow of a doubt that the panacea for the
country’s perennial energy crises would only find
expression in nuclear power generation.
An important question that, however, remains is
whether enough education has been done regarding
nuclear power generation and for that matter its
numerous benefits, which range from health to
electricity generation.
As a matter of fact, preparations to embark on any
project that has the public as its key stakeholders
must always be preceded by significant public
education and, consequently, public acceptance
before any further steps could be taken otherwise
such a project would never see the light of day.
This is especially true when the project under
consideration is being surrounded by concocted
mysteries and sheer misconceptions that are
technically too difficult for the ordinary citizen
to decipher. Oftentimes, when the public feels
unsure about the potential benefits of a project, an
obvious stance to adopt is but mount strong
opposition as people are often highly apprehensive
of the unknown. On the contrary, if the public is
offered a platform to understand all the issues
involved by way of mass education, public protest
easily makes way for public acceptance and the
project thus becomes a huge success.
In this regard, the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission
must collaborate with the media to design series of
campaign programmes that seek to offer all Ghanaians
a platform to understand all issues that need to be
known about nuclear energy. The Commission must
begin this all important exercise of nuclear
education by first engaging with players within the
media industry so as to equip them with all the
information they need to know themselves before
commencement of mass education to be spearheaded by
the media through both print and electronic. The
public education, when it is well designed and
executed, has a huge potential not only to demystify
the fears surrounding nuclear energy, but would also
promote public acceptance and hence little or no
protests to deal with.
Perhaps, the Commission is awaiting the passing of
the Nuclear Regulatory Authority Bill before staging
its campaign on nuclear energy generation education
in Ghana and if that is the case, then the call by
this author on the need to intensify education in
this regard is coming off too early. All the same,
it would not be out of place if the engagement with
the media starts now as a form of miniature
campaign, which would then prepare the grounds for
massive educational programmes to be rolled out when
the Nuclear Regulatory Authority Bill finally
becomes law.
Undoubtedly, the power crises that continue to hit
mother Ghana despite efforts to augment power
generation in the country over the years through
other sources of energy obviously points to nuclear
energy generation as the only means to permanently
address the perennial energy crises. It is obvious
that relying on only the current sources of energy,
which are highly intermittent in nature, cannot
solve the energy challenges that Ghana is facing.
The only source that can guarantee constant supply
of energy is certainly nuclear power. To have
nuclear power in the energy mix of Ghana would mean
24/7 supply of electricity as it is being
experienced in the developed countries. Surely, it
is going to be a miracle if the only time one would
experience dark moments is when an individual’s
electric bulb is dead and only needs to be replaced.
Wouldn’t it be a sure miracle for Ghanaians to begin
to experience 24/7 supply of power all of a sudden
after years of “dumsor dumsor” when nuclear energy
becomes part of the country’s energy mix? Never
doubt the potential of nuclear energy to provide
base-load energy supply all year round.
The usual “dumsor dumsor” has reared its ugly head
again in the last few days. Therefore, all Ghanaians
who love light, but hate dark must rally behind the
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in her preparation to
build the first nuclear power for peaceful
applications to halt the “dumsor dumsor”
permanently.
By Jude Nuru
September 18, 2018
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