₦airaland Forum

DivineGrace123:
Oh nice! I think writing in French is not allowed on this forum. Got banned by anti-spam bot for replying in French. Lol.

I am taking a French class over here too. It is free for landed immigrants. And I am enjoying it.

I wish you the best in Nantes. Enjoy!

1. Yes, I noticed same too. One of your post got deleted. Sometimes, the anti-spam behaves like anti-sperm. Forgive it.
2. Of course, you are doing better than me. Language has not really being my thing. But I truly need to learn a second language-French. But my classes are too demanding that, I hardly give my French course a time.

3. The pleasure is mine.

miracood:
Mr physics welcome back

here is wat trending in Nigeria

1) NAIRA MARLEY

2) Boko Haram

3) Amotekun

Thanks bro. And thanks for updating me. I will follow up with them?

BelieverDE:
It's good to have you back!

I am very delighted to read wonderful posts from you again.

Forgive me for being a ghost reader

You are welcome bro. Feels good to post again on this thread. Sometimes when I want to make a new post, I realize I am not in the right state of mind to right effectively, so I will just delete.

But I am back now and glad you guys are still here.

SaintHilary:
Be like OP won turn the thread to online physics classroom this year
As a science student I should be ashamed I can still remember only 20% of wat u wrote up dere, but I'm not bothered cus in dis part of d world, Nuclear or no Nuclear! Money talks, Bullshit walks
Good to have you back ! Make i help you call sum men dem

Izzou
Tojahh
Daddysoftapples
Hadampson and 500 guests

@ the emboldened; lol. Money talks but money actually isn't all things. And in same part of the world too, individual money talks. The bulk of the people are struggling and those that have the money can't provide themselves with all they need because most of those stuffs should be done by government. Good road, electricity, water, housing, etc.

Welcome back bro, happy to have you guys back . Your guy has been reading as if everything about me is about neutron, and all other subparticles.

themaestro08:
Welcome back sir.

I have just few questions.

1. how many NPP does a country like Nigeria needs (considering its huge population and its sprawling industries?

2.how much megawatts of electricity would be enough to meet our needs, considering the fact that we power generation is ridiculously below 7000 megawatt?

3.At the bolded, how do you think this issue could be solved?

Thank you.

1. France with about 60 million people have more than 50 Nuclear Power Plants. A country like Nigeria, I don't know how many we will need. However, all source of our electricity will should not come from one source. Also, we are spending a lot already for not having one. Having one would lead to a rise in research and quality of projects done in Nigeria not to mention the increase in expertise.

2. We need more than 90000 MWe, we should also consider increasing population

3. More foreign investors. When you get foreign companies to sponsor such projects, they will pay more attention and monitor the project. Once you leave it for Nigerians to manage, funds would be stolen. And the Federal government is already doing so. The Zungeru Power Plant is majorly sponsored by China, same with the contract signed with Rosatom.

Welcome back sir and it feels good to have you guys back.

Rosella1:
I'm still following ohh... Been waiting for you to update us on the abroad chose!

Which of them ma'am

DivineGrace123:
@Mrphysics, lovely thread.


Pouvez-vous parler français maintenant?

Je parle unpeu francais maintenant. Je peux lire francaise, aussi, je comprend unpeu francaise.

Lastly, on Friday next week, we will be visiting Ganil. Ganil houses the largest Nuclear Research Reactor in France, it also has the biggest cyclotron. It will be our first industry visit and I will be taking alot of pictures (if we are allowed to shaaa).

I will be waiting for your comments (that is if people are still following this thread)

Bigmikedagod:
dear Mr.Physics, how possible is it to get the scholarship with 2nd class lower and industry experience??

Possible too. There's a thread in Education Section of nairaland on the current PTDF Scholarship. You should consider visiting there, make friends, ask questions and people will respond to it.

Due to my schedule, I hardly have the time to respond to emails shaa. because the ones I responded to, I got questions that the answers are already on this thread or PTDF scholarship thread in Education Section.

ekrizz:
Hello mrphysics, please permit me to say this - you're living the kind of life I've planned for myself.
I have been following most of your threads, and I must confess, they've really changed (or about to change) my life. I started reading from your thread where you wrote about your interesting NYSC experience in Kano State (I was a ghost-reader then). I was also there when you wrote about how a friend you met during your service introduced you to freelance writing on Fiverr, and how that changed your story. I read through that thread still on ghost-mode.
I don't know your intent for writing about all these phases of your life, but I want to tell you that you've really changed the direction of my life, for good, through your writings.

When I read your thread about Fiverr freelancing, I decided to acquire digital skills for myself. I'm currently serving (NYSC) in Lagos State (and still on acquiring my skills), and rounding up by August of this year. I plan to apply for fully funded foreign scholarships (including PTDF and others). Please I need your help and advice.
I'm a graduate of Petroleum Engineering from a federal university. I graduated with a CGPA of 4.19 of 5.00. I haven't written or published any paper. What are my chances? What do I need to do?
Please I will like to chat with you via emails. This is mine: chxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com. Please I'll be anticipating your response.

Hey boss, sorry for the late response. Your G.P is good and your chances high too. When I applied, I didn't publish any paper too, I guessed they are many who didn't also, but if you have one then better.

Let's get back in to the lab or school. This is why we are here isn't it? And I will be needing your inputs too.

Few years ago, Nigeria signed an agreement with Russia Atomic Energy (Rosatom) to build a NPP in Ituh LGA Akwa Ibom State. The agreement was that Rosatom will build manage and handover to Nigerians in 2035 or thereabout. The construction and installation of the reactor core will start next year (2021). The geological assessments etc has been done, approval has been given by presidency too, and there has been an ongoing sensitization (poorly done anyway) of stakeholders in the local government. Remember, Rosatom will build, manage, train (Nigerians) and handover in 2035. The cost of building this is $10b and will be financed by Rosatom. Nigeria will manage and ensure good environment.

Few days ago, the FG through El-Rufia after their executive meeting said the Federal Government has spent N1.3Trillion on electricity in the last three years. The truth is, while there is improvement, many are yet to experience this. I do not wish to forget also the amount spent thus far on electricity without any improvement.

Now does Nuclear Solve bulk of the problem? Yes. The major cause of the corruption in the power sector is the channel through which the money is spent. It is spent on an open ended project that can't be accounted for properly and that is why any auditing of the power sector won't work. In 2007, my company was the consultant for the NBET (Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading) Company. It is important to know that NBET is the sole buyer of all electricity generated in Nigeria. Currently, Nigeria operate a Single-Buyer model which works only for countries with small economy and populations. In this World Bank sponsored consultancy project, I was deeply involved and that is where I saw the weakness of our power sector, the death thereof too.

Nuclear PP is a focused niche. It has a set budget for each amount of electricity. It is an area where you can track progress and monitor generation because it is highly regulated. Activities of NPP is not only monitored by the host country but by the international community. Every country currently constructing a NPP is known, the stages are there and it is closely monitored. This makes it highly efficient in it's delivery and hard to steal fund. What about our current process? It is weak, open ended, no one is interested, there is no set budget for any amount of electricity, no one monitors them and that is the loop of events that we are in.

I hold the opinion that we will continue running around this loop and having little or nothing in power output if we don't consider a highly monitored source of electricity. Trust me, I have been to top of where these issues are discussed and I can tell you that even in the next 15 years, our case is not going to be different.

So what do you guys think? The classroom is open, no one is inside but you can contribute. I will like to hear your thoughts. Drop the comments and I will do well to respond. No one is right or wrong here anyway.

Picture 1: The entrance into the school building is automated. It can be accessed with the student card. In 9ja, guys will jump and pass

Picture 2: The open area within the building, used for activities, open conferences, shows, and whatever.

Picture 3: Christmas decorations.

This also

Let me finally take you out of the lab and school and remind you how Europe looks again

As we round up the semester, we took few pictures. Some of our classmates are Erasmus sponsored which means they will be leaving for other schools in Europe and will never come back again. While few others will come back. Next semester starting February 17th, we will be 8 in the class.

Some of them are coming from countries which have nuclear power plants, only three of us came from countries without one. France have more than 50 NPP with Nuclear Energy generating more than 80% of their electricity. China have (I think) 11 and currently building 7 more, Turkey is building one and have sent two people to study NE from masters to Ph.D.

Only three of us from Nigeria and Ghana came from one without NPP.

The question is, do you think we should have one? What are your thoughts when you hear Nuclear Power. Be informed that every Nuclear Power Plant run on low enriched Uranium (3-5% of U-235). This grade of Uranium-235 is not anywhere close to what is referred to as Weapon Grade Uranium and is not processed in the facility. So getting one that can be used for weapon is already out of it.

The labs are well equipped as expected for a Nuclear Engineering School. Everything one need to learn are available, modern and working too . I intend taking up a summer internship in the lab to perfect my Radiochemistry Skills.

The big question is where to apply all these things in Nigeria . Well, there's currently an ongoing Nuclear Project (under evaluation) in Nigeria. I will briefly talk about that. But before then, I have to feed you some picture-milks that I have starved you guys of because of my studies.

Picture 2 and 3 are Liquid Scintillator (LSC) Machine and Alpha Spectrometry machine used to deposit radioactive element from unknown sample on a stainless steel, as you can see, a lot of radioactive materials are in it, our practicals are not just on paper, you are taking to the lab, everyone are trained on how to use the equipment, analyze results, and how to find the radioactive element from a sample of unknown elements. It's interesting to know how things are done here.

Don't ask me what the first picture is used for because I know know.

DarrrkMatter:
Welcome Back boss

Thank you boss. Welcoming you back to the thread too.

The major problem with high risk projects in Nigeria is that most Nigerians don't recognize risks when they see one. We are characterized as being careless and people who care more about money than human life. A country where lives could be lost and forgotten.

Come to think of it, between Oil and Nuclear Power Plant, which is more risky than the other in Nigeria. The answer is Oil. The South South has suffered ages of oil spillage, trillions upon trillions has been spent in the clean up of Ogoni Land and other Southern states. This has deprived the people the opportunity fishing farming and others. Let's even think of gas flaring in SS states. These are high risk and environmental hazardous instances but since it produces enough money, everyone is happy with it and pray that oil should be found at the back of their compound. But when you mention nuclear, everyone become awake, yet the risk associated to nuclear is far lower than that of oil.

If you have ever flown on air, if you smoke, if you don't check the kind of material used to microwave foods you eat, then you have probably absorbed more radiations than anyone living 20km within a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Let's talk of Cancer ( the most attributed problems of nuclear), there has not been any identified cancer related cases from the survivors of the Fukushima accidents. The reduction of life expectancy from cancer as a result of nuclear radiation is 2 years while cancer as a result of smoking is 10 years. In fact, in most cases, this is 2 months. This is by far lower than the risk of driving from Abuja to Lagos, Abuja to Enugu or Portharcout. This is by far lower than the risk of oil spillage, the cost therein.

As a country, we are partly ready for NPP if the lives of the workers (like that of oil industry) is protected from kidnappers, if there's enough security around the facility, if workers are in good working condition (mentally and psychologically), and if the press is managed well.

The pictures below are our practical classes. You will find below some Alpha Spectrometry and LSC for both Alpha and Beta Spectrometry.


Cc izzuo

Let's digress a little

Most times we wake up with negative temperature (lowest is -4 degrees) and other times, meet 1 degree and the temperature increases to with time up till midday and begin to make downward movement as the day begins to end. It freezes very early in the morning but it doesn't snow here. So expect no snow pictures

One thing you will appreciate the people living here for is the simplicity of their lifestyle. No one dresses to impress, or does things for eye-service sake. When you go to an eatery, no one checks the cost of what you buy and people are compassionate when you don't have.

I have seen a lot of cars driven here, and I can tell you that majority of Nigerians drive sophisticated cars than the one driven here. No Nigerian lady will date any guy driving some of the cars these people kiss themselves inside here . Life here is simple, I guess it's one of the things that makes them appreciate life more than us.

Before entering where these elements are stored, you have to go through security checks and you must go with someone (a lecturer) if you are just a student. Once you leave the room, you also go through checks to ensure you are not contaminated. So many checks that would leave you wondering if the material is the president of France. Anyway, they are all important checks.

Now these materials are stored in a Refrigerator. Important and highly radioactive isotopes are stored in refrigerators and locked with padlocks as you can see in the image below. The purpose of storing in refrigerators is to protect the material against bacterial attacks or other biological attacks (nothing else). Once material is leaving a room, it's stored in 3 containers and the last one assumed to be non contaminated. The part of your hand used to touch a radioactive material is called a "dead hand", , you must discard your gloves immediately after touch without even touching the next hand or anyone.

Now the big question is, are Nigerians ready for a project that involves these kind of safety precautions? How much do we appreciate risk and safety? Do we even know how to identify risks? Should Nigeria go Nuclear? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

This first picture below is a short lived radioactive isotope (half live is less than 10 years i.e if I am correct ).

The second picture is where these radioactive elements are stored. As you can see, it is a refrigerator whose interior is "Explosion Proof".

First, let me state that we are all radioactive, everyone including you. As long as you eat banana and other foods that contains potassium, then you are radioactive this is excluding the natural background radiation. So there's nothing to worry about if the radiation around you is small .

Intro and small talks

It is a common knowledge that I am running an M.Sc in Nuclear Engineering. A very sensitive area coupled with it's expensive tuition(paid by Fg) compared to other institutions or departments. The Nuclear Engineering tuition fee in my school is 24k Euros for the two years masters. Most of my classmates (90%) are on scholarship. Chinese, Nigerian, Turkish and Erasmus sponsored, this makes our class very competitive. You can imagine coming from Nigeria where the standard of education is poor and competing with people whose background is solid, one have to read his way out or get left behind. I have devoted all my time and energy to reading , shunning every social activities and giving it my best. The goal is to be convinced that I gave it my best and whatever the outcome is, it doesn't matter. But the outcome has been good anyway .

As you will expect, this area of study if filled with some interesting story, while others are scary, especially when you take your mind around the kind/amount of energy or materials we are talking about here. This semester project is about detecting the sterile anti-neutrino anomaly by observing the energy deposited on a detector placed 10m from the reactor core. The aim is to properly shield the detector from gammas and neutrons from the detector. In this experiment, we sent 10 million gamma or neutron particles to the core and I was surprised that even with the kind of shielding the detector has, we still see these particles depositing it's energy on the detector. The detector is shielded with lead, and other strong materials yet, about 10000 gamma's pass through.
So we are talking about industry whose particles does not smell but may be everywhere, depositing it's energy on the environment, most of which are long lived.

So it's an interesting industry and you can imagine if Nigeria is ready for such kind of project. The answer is Yes and No.

Hi guys, it's been a while.
I must admit, it's been tough . The French Engineering Schools are tough and mine seem to take everything personal. .

We are finally done with first semester classes and exams, almost 6 months of intensive studies and exams. Here, we write exams while lectures are on going. The end of one course becomes the beginning of another.

It's been really tough, having lectures from 8am to 6pm everyday except Thursdays (8-12pm) is something I never expected. But thank God it's becoming over and we honestly hope the activities of the next semester gives us a breathing space.

Research project if very important in my school. Infact, every semester, we will do one project and submit an academic paper, I guess the purpose is to groom us on how research is done in sciences. On Monday, we will be defending our project and submit our papers before month end. This makes it 4 documents and reports I have to submit before the end of the month.

So briefly, I will be sharing with you the lessons I have learned and also share the intriguing stories of our niche, the Nigerian perspective and the international view of the industry.

So welcome back and I hope to make it interesting for you again.

Nukilia:
When the country allows gas stations to be sited just anywhere, then we should not bother crying foul...

He who brings an ant-infested firewood to the city should not raise alarm when lizards come visiting..

There is need for proper regulation to prevent proliferation of gas stations in our neighborhood

We are told everyday that the risk of dying as a result of nuclear disaster/radiation (that is if there is an explosion) is lesser than the risk of travelling by air. In fact you absorb more radiations flying thousands of altitudes every time.

Now, let's imagine how Nigerians are more at risk and shouldn't even talk about nuclear disaster.

1. Oil spillage
2. Gas flaring
3. uncontrolled gas station siting
4. Bad roads
5. Ignorant use of radiation producing devices (Microwave): Have you see someone insert any kind of material in the microwave without checking if the plate of material is compatible with the radiations coming from microwave? Such person is more at risk that the people in the community where NPP will be sited.

Nukilia:
That's responsible for the negative perception by the people on the nuclear industry as a whole. The environmentalists paint nuclear technology as a plague which is about to befall Nigerians.
Nigerians now have the perception that no Nigerian is mentally stable enough to run a NPP.

The country is on a comedy trajectory at the moment...

Exactly. You are very correct.

I have seen the devastating effect of oil spillage, it happens every day, gas flaring occurs, destroying the atmosphere and leaving the environment inhabitable and useless for fishing, farming, and other purposes. People are happy.

We know that for every stick of cigarette smoked, the individual is more at risk than someone living 20km from a Nuclear power plant for 50 years and a whole other stuffs Nigerians do. Environmentalists are not talking about these. Rather, they paint Nuclear as a curse that is about to befall us.

I highlighted earlier on that the effect of oil spillage is more than the effect of the most talked about fukushima accident. Every Nuclear power plant operator sets aside a particular amount of money for emergency. Such is not done in oil exploration where people keep destroying the environment and the stakeholders are happy because money is exchanging hands.

Nukilia:
That's a wishiful thinking @emboldened it won't happen.
The problem would not be safety of the Russians but that of the Nigerians.

The Russians might be kidnapped for ransom also.

The government is doing little wrt stakeholders engagement in terms of the proposed NPP sites

That is the problem with the country. The little thing you ask them to do, they will poorly do it and then wonder why the rest of the world is leaving them behind. The stakeholders engagement was poorly and badly done. The person that is supposed to do it will send his PA and then the PA his PA, lol, at the end, someone that understands little or nothing about the project would go and promise them job or money. I was so ashamed of myself reading the statement from the chairaman of the local government. That is why I totally agree with you.

Convincing stakeholders is very important and have to be professionally done. For now, we are doing poorly wrt that.

Nukilia:
Then get ready to face similar attacks like the Indians. Lots of the scientist would be kidnapped and murdered. The nuclear business is not what you think.

You have raised a good concern though (I must admit). However, the security of a NPP is very tight more than you can get in Aso Rock.


Modified.

I suppose that in Nigeria, they would adopt the ITER project method where an international standard schools and hospitals were built for the workers within the premises. Also, the means of movement of those workers would also be considered.

They would be foreign security, Russian embassy would bring in more Russian security for it's personnels. I suppose all of them are smart.

Nukilia:
@Mr Physics you make me laugh! You mean to tell me that a Nigeria where nepotism has brought us on our knees
A Nigeria where one Oga at the top phones the organizations boss to recruit his own relatives whether they're qualified or not.
Just stop thinking like we are in an ideal society...

Maybe you don't understand, I am finding it very difficult too to accept the reality. However, the operations of a NPP should not be compromised. It is even impossible to compromise it.

Rosatom will build and operate it for years so that nepotism can work elsewhere shaaa. Though there is nothing(evil or bad) too difficult for Nigerians to do. But knowing the severity of any compromise, trust me, it would be beyond such maneuvering.

itsme01:
I just hope where ever we are siting it, we should have a proper mass evacuation plan

Very important. With vast lands, we shouldn't have people(or much people) living at 20km radius from the site.

Nukilia:
A bad organization that cannot communicate with the press effectively is not an organization to reckon with. They're jokers

All nuclear power plants or designs are press free. In fact, even government officials can't even go there anyhow without proper clearance. Ones a journalist is allowed into the site, he/she would never be allowed to go close to the reactor main building.

Not even all nuclear scientists are allowed to go there except you are working there. We will be visiting some power plants soon and even powerful research reactors and our details (passport, ID cards, etc) has already been taken for proper security and background check.

So take the press out of it, they won't really know the meat of it when it begins.

Nukilia:
Just like Ajaokuta that became a white elephant project and the folks sent for training from OAU in the 70s today retired as lecturers and were never recruited or employed in the running of the steel plant

Ajaokuta was one of the project stalled and sold out by Atiku when he was the VP. He, alongside El-Rufia sold that, so even currently, it's not operational.

One thing you should know about NPP is the sensitivity of it. It's unlike any other project you can think of. In fact, the safety measures taken into account during the design and development of a plane is nothing compared to that of a nuclear power plant.

Nigerian government is not funding the entire project, Russians are. It's one of the things discussed in the last Russia China summit that the president went. Currently, Rosatom has gained Site permit for the installation of a power plant in Egypt.

Stop looking at it with the eyes of things done in Nigeria. Even the workers in the site will undergo a lot of psychological and mental check in order to avoid compromise coming from within. It's that sensitive.