Generate enough electricity for industrial advancement - Scientist

Kwabenya, Nov. 20, GNA - Professor E. H. K. Akaho, Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), has stressed the need to generate enough electricity to correspond with Ghana's industrial advancement.

He said the current rate of 30 per cent of electricity production from hydro with the supplementary 70 per cent from thermal is costly since "we do not produce oil".

The GACE Director-General made the observation when speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Kwabenya.

Prof Akaho called for the production of electricity from nuclear sources as a long-term solution to Ghana's energy requirement for industrial development. Electricity generated from nuclear reactor is cheaper and environmentally friendly because it does not emit gasses such as Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide, which cause environmental degradation, he said.

Such a venture would be costly initially but compared to a thermal power plant the advantage is that the reactor can stockpile fuel before the need for refuelling, Prof Akaho added.

He noted that the waste from a reactor scares people but said normally, the supplier would insist on an agreement that the waste should be sent to him and that the material is not used for the manufacture of weapons.

"There would be no waste left in actual fact," he said, adding that, manufacturers have devised new safety measures and sophisticated control systems to prevent radiation leakages.

Prof Akaho referred to the Chernoby accident in the former Soviet Union, saying that, the reactor was an old design without safety or a containment system, which under current normal condition would not have been licensed for operation.