JetStar:
Africa should consider the nuclear option for its energy needs? Hmmmm...... that's not only scary but it doesn't make sense for now. Nukes have the following challenges

1. They are very expensive: Have you seen the costs of nuclear power projects across the world? The price can go as high as 6 dollar per a watt if you pay for it without borrowing. If you need some financing, then it's going to be as high as 10 dollar per a watt. Just an example: the United Kingdom is currently having a Hinkley C power plant being built in sommerset. That plant costs about 23 billion pounds. The initial price is just around 18 billion pounds but it was later revised to 23 billion pounds so that the project could be completed in time. Whats the power rating of hinkley C? Just 3 gigawatts. Now compare that to the planned Mambilla hydro power project costing just 6 billion dollars with a capacity of 3 gigawatts costing just around 6 billion dollars!!!!! For now african countries don't have the financial horsepower to fund a nuclear power plant project.

2. They are quite risky: Anything goes wrong with nuclear and you will be looking at an almost irreparable damage and reputation. For now, the nuclear tech currently in use are not advisable since they generate long term waste (lasting millions of years). Even in developed countries, where to dump the nuclear waste is currently being challenged and communities in the us are protesting against it.


The only good thing about nuclear power is the fact that they have an almost perfect capacity factor (producing power round the clock 24 hours in a day 7 days in a week) This is unlike natural gas, nuclear, wind, hydro or solar energy systems which could run out of "fuel" for the long term. Yes, it is true that nukes don't emit carbon, but they have far more dangerous waste that could last for an eternity.

Learning

mrphysics:

Coal? Sunlight? With heavy rainfall in Africa? You mentioned Hiroshima and Nagazaki yet you forgot it's a nuclear bomb not nuclear power plant.

Some of you do not truly understand these energy concepts. I don't want to talk about coal (its never an option). Opting for solar energy is the worst option for a country, small countries let alone a large countries like us. It's cheap, but it can't support large industries. You need a vast land to put it and you also need to get a lot of batteries which in itself isn't good.

When you say need a lot of batteries, hope you’re not referring to regular lead acid batteries?

Technology is improving and the likes of Tesla now have utility scale batteries that have already been deployed. Below is a pic of a 100MW Tesla utility battery. Combined with solar, that can power soo many homes.

Imagine if every state had one to start, that’s already 3,600MW of clean energy.

Staphylococcus:


Human capacity in the absence of steady electricity?

Agriculture and business, what drives this sectors?

Energy is the bane root.

So you mean, nuclear energy is the only form of energy that can develop a nation, chaii, close mindedness is dangerous.
Don't you know that electricity(to mention a few) was invented before nuclear power.

The challenge with Nuclear power in Africa is how to dispose off Spent nuclear fuel.. It’s highly challenging and expensive

autofreak2020:
You see, from economic perspective nuclear energy is the big deal, but its management is challenging. It is even more risky in countries with poor maintenance culture and unstable government policies.

Previous corruption is the reason why our power supply is having problems, and it effect is that we don't have enough to drive the economy.

Nuclear power plant is unforgiving, if you allow corruption to affect the plant, it will not only shut down to destroy the economy, people will be destroyed.

But if we allow private sector to pioneer it with strict policy, it has better chance of improved efficiency.

Because you will save up to 300,000 naira in Facebook ads budget, would you fill this form and use our powerful software for free? We will generate a report that will blow your mind in 20 minutes.

High possibility for failure is not always a reason not to try , true.

But before we embark on this project we should read up on the Chernobyl 1980 disaster & the Sacrifices made for the "clean up exercise".

Till date Chernobyl hasn't recovered and I am not talking about the Financial costs involved, just social, economic and health impacts of the disaster to its host community nevermind the scare across Europe.

God help us.

eruchboy:
They cant manage common nepa transformfer & ur talking of nuclear

I wonder myself. Even if it is to be given as a gift will they dream of accepting it.

Africa should only consider nuc if we have an enabling and conducive environment. Which is something so many Africa countries have. Building an NPP takes a lot of time and more importantly involves lots and lots of cash inflow. This is why it's imperative for Africa to have the right financing options in place and public private paternership should be encouraged becauseits a tough ask for government only to bear the cost of constructing NPP which usually can take up to 10 15 years to build. The hinckley point C (HPC) which I am currently working on has cost the UK government and EDF over 25 billion pounds and the cost is set to keep on rising.
If Africa is to move towards nuc then the future lies in SMR and AMR which stands for small modular reactors and adnavced modular reactors which are cost-effective and take way less time to construct and more importantly can be decommissioned rapidly than the NPP we are all used to.
Finally, we should be ready to pay electricity tariffs at the set price cus no investors be it an IPP (independent power producers) or otherwise wants to make a loose on its investment especially when huge sums of money is involved.

mrphysics:


US have a lot of Nuclear Reactors. Do you even know how many people are in US. Over 300 million. They can't use one source of power.

Do you know the number of nuclear reactors in US alone?

If you think Nigeria will ever get close to electricity stability in the next century without considering Nuclear, then you had better wake up from that slumber.

The problem with y'all is you like to compare yourselves with these countries
The energy needs of Nigeria and the energy needs of US are different. They are far more advanced technologically than you guys and therefore need more electricity. In fact a report shows that the amount of electricity the Dallas cowboys stadium uses is more than the electricity being used in the whole of Liberia .It's not about the population size alone.
In Niggeria the lack of electricity is not because you dont have the means to generate the electricity. The maintinence culture is zero. I tell you even if you build a nuclear reactor in every state you still won't get 24 hours power in that country. So stick to the safest option instead of trying to form world power

Jobia:
Funny seeing this question just a day after starting the Chernobyl miniseries.

2
Was about recommending the series to the poster. That is how one idiot will hijack it and kill us all.

nuclear energy is not nuclear bomb .... this NL peeps hehn and

the technology for nuclear power and armament is regulated

Africa can look at the simple version if they wish but we know it will be 100% FDI

if we can stop looting and monopolising national revenue anything is possible

but the level of insecurity and corruption now is a Big NO NO!!

wirinet:

How can you build human capacity, agriculture and business without energy? What will you use to power your class rooms, your homes, your machines and your businesses. No economy can develop on 4,000 MW of electricity. That's the power consumption. NewYork city alone consumes 3,000MW.

Even though I have always been against nuclear due to safety concerns and high initial cost, I think African countries need to start looking in the direction of nuclear and other alternative energy sources to solve our energy crisis. Fossil fuel is just too unpredictable and political apart from its environmental concerns.

Considering that Germany has been able to generate a lot more power from solar sources than Nigeria's entire power capacity, despite being located at a latitude where there is far less sunshine, there is simply no reason why Nigeria has to look beyond that to get well ahead of where it is today: the best thing about solar power is that it can even be done at a single-unit, local area or village level, without having to worry about a decrepit national grid that suffers from chronic under-investment and the usual woeful mismanagement of Nigerian parastatals.

The thought of a nuclear power plant being built in Nigeria should fill one with dread: given how brazenly corrupt and poorly staffed all Nigerian public facilities end up being, an accident at a Nigerian nuclear plant could easily end up making the TV show "Chernobyl" look like a light comedy by comparison. This is a country which can't even keep its major federal roads in good working order!

babyfaceafrica:
No.. We are not ready yet

When are we gonna be ready? The best time is now. It will interest you to know that nuclear power plant is 8,000 times more efficient that the conventional power we operate today.



God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria

KingAzubuike:
Before any African nation considers this, take a look at Chernobyl and pripyat

Have you seen the Niger Delta. Why are you still pumping oil there. 76 babies lost per 1,000 births due to pollution (not counting adults) in the Niger Delta while the peak radiation deaths in Chernobyl was 26 per 1,000.

Perspective is often lost in things. It is similar to what you have in transport safety where few believe air travel is the safest mode simply because the unit death count and publicity is much higher.

Today folks shout pandemic up and down amd the world is shut down because 150,000 have died while the humble mosquito is quietly doing its thing putting 400,000 people in caskets every year with alarming regularity. If you ask anyone what is the most dangerous animal out there, they will say it is the lion or snake which most will not encounter in thror lifetime.

A typical nuclear power station will deliver between three to ten times the energy of a typical coal, oil or gas fired stations. That energy multiplier alone builds in significant safety benefits. The 5,000 megawatts we claim to generate can be provided by just one large nuclear plant or no more than 3 meduim sized ones. No silly pipelines to vandalise. You can then protect it with a whole division of soldiers if you wish.

mrphysics:

Lol, solar is only good for small countries. Putting money on solar in Nigeria is purely a waste of time. It will amount to nothing.

Germany must be a very small country, because Germany generates 9.1% of its electricity from solar and up to 24.8% by wind - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany

Putting money in solar is the best investment Nigeria and Nigerians can embark upon now.

We can if we want to.


But personally sha, I don't approve.


EVERYTHING has its pros and cons. Its negative and positive consequence.


For me nuclear energy has too much negative impact on the environment.

mrphysics:

Which one is Russian BN800. What is the technology. Reactors are not called like Aircraft. Mention the country accompanied by the reactor technology.

use google ignoramus

mrphysics:


Chernobyl exploded first because of the flood, not design faults. There's hardly any known Nuclear power plant disaster caused by design faults. Chernobyl was a civil engineering design fault. Simple.

You are just complicating issues and saying nothing. You can equally say the same of Ajaokuta, etc.

A nuclear power plant is not only monitored by host country, rather other countries. Also, the construction is expensive but there's no embezzlement of such fund. It's known already and nothing of such can happen.

Chief I like your answers on this thread.

However, on Chernobyl, as this sauce puts it

The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment, with the deposition of radioactive materials in many parts of Europe.

There is even the allegation that the personnel were carrying out an 'unapproved experiment with the machinery' ie having fun by seeing how fast the reactor could go or something like that.

This is total and absolutely thrash and unimaginable. Going nuclear? I took time to go through this writeup and I didn't see anywhere the writer made mention of nuclear waste and it's consequences. At least addressing the issues without pointing out it hazardous and side effects would be as disastrous and as devastating as the nuclear energy itself.

You made mention of sustainable, clean and green energy.
Africa � has a lot of potential when it comes to renewable energy and Renewable energy industry, I do believe Africa should go clean, renewable and sustainable via biomass, generate electricity, wealth and create employment by establishing biological energy transformation industries, were these industries would go, solicit and corporate with farmers, who would in turn supply them with wastes from farmlands for production of electricity and other energy resources.
Africa is not in any way ready for any nuclear program of any kind. Africa is tender and still growing and I believe that if those of us (Chemical Engrs, Nuclear Engrs and other professionals) in the field should make people understand the dangers surrounding this wrong move.

God bless the continent which in it lies the future of the world
God bless Africa �.

Engr Jude.

wirinet:


Germany must be a very small country, because Germany generates 9.1% of its electricity from solar and up to 24.8% by wind - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany

Putting money in solar is the best investment Nigeria and Nigerians can embark upon now.

You need enormous industrial support to drive down prices and serious R&'D. Nigeria can get there but not tomorrow. No nation waits for optimum technology before developing indigenously. Let us adopt the technologies that are available. If we are going green then nuclear remains the best for now.

Nuclear plants pay for themselves in about 5 years. By the time the nuclear fuel is spent in say 25 to 30 years, perhaps renewables will have become viable.

Supersymetry:


So you mean, nuclear energy is the only form of energy that can develop a nation, chaii, close mindedness is dangerous.
Don't you know that electricity(to mention a few) was invented before nuclear power.

Read what you composing.

You have failed to factor in what's demanded and the best and most efficient way to get reach it.

Oh! We should go solar to generate 50k MW or go thermal that is about being faced out. Tell me more.. wind turbines or Hydro.

Nuclear will get Nigeria the desired efficient and reliable capacity.

We talking about powering up a Nation with large energy deficit and not lightening up a village.

Bro I agree with u about the financial aspect of nuclear. If we have to go down that nuc route then it's certainly gonna have to be a sort of public private partnership or some sort of financing options from say the World Bank.
However, the part on nuc waste I fail to agree. For a starter, 90% of all nuc waste are low to intermediate level waste which are really not that harmful.
If we put things in perspective, how many times in the last 40 years have they been a nuclear disaster? Not more than 3. More people die each year from GHG emsissions than from nuclear waste.

The issue with waste disposal is mainly down to the media who has unfortunately influenced a negative view of nuc on the wider population. But what a lot of people from the outside fail to realise is that majority of nuc waste has a very short half life meaning they will decompose rapidly and therefore be of no harm to the wider community. The truth is waste disposal is getting better and better each day, frankly speaking the overreaction on nuclear is uncalled for. We should focus on the real killers out there

The cost issue u highlighted at HPC is cus EDF have refused to listen they wanna do things their own way even when they are not expert. I know this cus I am currently working on HPC and Sizewell C as a nuclear and power consultant and I work very closely with the EDF team.

meetme01:


Learning

mujiboy:
Africa has a very long way to go.

Nigeria has a long way to go not Africa

mzhazel:
We're not ready for a nuclear power plant. With the sort of leaders we have in Nigeria, the chances of seeing what happened in Chernobyl happen again, is high. Note that, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded because of a design flaw and lies upon lies.
The people governing us here in Nigeria are liars as well as thieves. They'll only use about 60% of allocated funds to build and embezzle the rest. Thus, leading to a substandard power plant full of flaws and built on a foundation of lies.

@mzhazel did you study engineering? If no, whats your discipline like?

.

We should use renewable energy not nuclear energy

Fidelismaria:


I wonder what people mean when they say we're not ready yet?

Community policing
we're not ready yet


Restructuring
we're not ready yet


New constitution
we're not ready yet



what exactly is Nigeria ready for?

It only means it does not favour a section of the country. But soon they will be forced to be ready

Sydney1995:
Bro I agree with u about the financial aspect of nuclear. If we have to go down that nuc route then it's certainly gonna have to be a sort of public private partnership or some sort of financing options from say the World Bank.
However, the part on nuc waste I fail to agree. For a starter, 90% of all nuc waste are low to intermediate level waste which are really not that harmful.
If we put things in perspective, how many times in the last 40 years have they been a nuclear disaster? Not more than 3. More people die each year from GHG emsissions than from nuclear waste.
The issue with waste disposal is mainly down to the media who has unfortunately influenced a negative view of nuc on the wider population. But what a lot of people from the outside fail to realise is that majority of nuc waste has a very short half life meaning they will decompose rapidly and therefore be of no harm to the wider community. The truth is waste disposal is getting better and better each day, frankly speaking the overreaction on nuclear is uncalled for. We should focus on the real killers out there
The cost issue u highlighted at HPC is cus EDF have refused to listen they wanna do things their own way even when they are not expert. I know this cus I am currently working on HPC and Sizewell C as a nuclear and power consultant and I work very closely with the EDF team.

@Sydney1995 connect me to some nuclear jobs make your guy chop some small money

At the moment, No. Nigeria especially. I am afraid, we are not capable of managing such a system especially the by/waste products. We cannot handle a potential nuclear fallout. At least not until we start caring genuinely about each other's welfare. If we embark on such an endeavor, Ithe first phase would involve the development of human resources. We may have to send students to study different aspects of Nuclear power, over a given period of time. Now, in the light of sending students, there has to be a team Nigerian expert on Nuclear energy, providing advisory functions on how to develop human resource with all important aspects of Nuclear energy in consideration. Following this, we would have to create an institution that would be equipped to train personnel to develop and manage our Nuclear power generation systems. At the moment I know of no single renowned Nigerian expert on Nuclear power generation. So if we would like to venture into nuclear energy generation 30/40 years from now, the federal government can specifically create a board that oversees the funding of students who would like to pursue postgraduate work in Nuclear Energy for a span of 15/20 years. However, given the cruelty of our leaders, creating such a board is an avenue for embezzlement. Our current crop of leaders is unapologetically corrupt. Let's hope we can phase them out, as we usher in a more moderately corrupt generation of leaders. The key phrase is generation of leaders not leader. Although it has to begin with that one leader, that will spearhead a revolution in which those potential leaders with some restraint will start considering getting into politics. At the moment, you cannot trust our leaders to effectively execute the first phase, which would require continuity. I wouldn't even bother mentioning the other phases. It's a waste of time for Now. By the way, I would think there are other safer alternatives like wind and solar energy we can consider, although the latter would be really expensive. But I suppose it's not something we would do in a month, perhaps we can spread it over 3/4 years.

Thanks for this. That's exactly the point I made. A lotta people here condemning nuc don't know that amongst all the clean energy techs nuc has the lowest GHG emissions. Moreover how many nuc disaster have they been in the last 40 years or so. More people are likely to die from carbon emissions than from nuc in the lifetime of a NPP

Reference:


Have you seen the Niger Delta. Why are you still pumping oil there. 76 babies lost per 1,000 births due to pollution (not counting adults) in the Niger Delta while the peak radiation deaths in Chernobyl was 26 per 1,000.

Perspective is often lost in things. It is similar to what you have in transport safety where few believe air travel is the safest mode simply because the unit death count and publicity is much higher.

Today folks shout pandemic up and down amd the world is shut down because 150,000 have died while the humble mosquito is quietly doing its thing putting 400,000 people in caskets every year with alarming regularity. If you ask anyone what is the most dangerous animal out there, they will say it is the lion or snake which most will not encounter in thror lifetime.

A typical nuclear power station will deliver between three to ten times the energy of a typical coal, oil or gas fired stations. That energy multiplier alone builds in significant safety benefits. The 5,000 megawatts we claim to generate can be provided by just one large nuclear plant or no more than 3 meduim sized ones. No silly pipelines to vandalise. You can then protect it with a whole division of soldiers if you wish.

Reference:


Have you seen the Niger Delta. Why are you still pumping oil there. 76 babies lost per 1,000 births due to pollution (not counting adults) in the Niger Delta while the peak radiation deaths in Chernobyl was 26 per 1,000.

Perspective is often lost in things. It is similar to what you have in transport safety where few believe air travel is the safest mode simply because the unit death count and publicity is much higher.

Today folks shout pandemic up and down amd the world is shut down because 150,000 have died while the humble mosquito is quietly doing its thing putting 400,000 people in caskets every year with alarming regularity. If you ask anyone what is the most dangerous animal out there, they will say it is the lion or snake which most will not encounter in thror lifetime.

A typical nuclear power station will deliver between three to ten times the energy of a typical coal, oil or gas fired stations. That energy multiplier alone builds in significant safety benefits. The 5,000 megawatts we claim to generate can be provided by just one large nuclear plant or no more than 3 meduim sized ones. No silly pipelines to vandalise. You can then protect it with a whole division of soldiers if you wish.

The typical African is afraid of change, and continues to do things in the old inefficient ways. Another problem is that we allow other to do our thinking for us. I call that mental laziness. We allow Europeans, Americans and lately the Chinese to help us think about the solutions to our local problems, instead of putting our thinking cap on and drawing up our own home grown solutions.
We fail to see that the mosquito is the most dangerous animal on the planet and so we fail to look for solutions to both the mosquito and the plasmodium parasite that kills hundreds of thousands of black Africans on a yearly basis. And yet, we are spending billions of dollars in fighting a coronavirus virus that is yet to kill 100 black Africans.

Nuclear is the future of energy on the planet, and we have not even started embracing it. Our universities are only in name only, no actual research goes on in these institutions. They are only proficient in awarding degrees, and before I forget, training one to apply spiritual solutions to scientific problems

autofreak2020:
You see, from economic perspective nuclear energy is the big deal, but its management is challenging. It is even more risky in countries with poor maintenance culture and unstable government policies.

Previous corruption is the reason why our power supply is having problems, and it effect is that we don't have enough to drive the economy.

Nuclear power plant is unforgiving, if you allow corruption to affect the plant, it will not only shut down to destroy the economy, people will be destroyed.

But if we allow private sector to pioneer it with strict policy, it has better chance of improved efficiency.

Because you will save up to 300,000 naira in Facebook ads budget, would you fill this form and use our powerful software for free? We will generate a report that will blow your mind in 20 minutes.

You're right nothing governmental is working they should privatize the whole country.