Ghana’s quest to establish the first Nuclear Power Plant in West Africa has received a major boost as the International Atomic Energy Agency presents it findings for the Phase One of the project.
Ghana officially started the process to establish a nuclear power plant as part of its energy needs for the industrial use in 2008.
Speaking to journalists after representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency presented the findings of its assessment to government, the Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko stated that all agencies involved must work to meet the schedule.
“We have been given 19 steps in the three phases. It depends on our own efforts and to some extent some good luck coming together to complete the steps. So it will not be prudent to put a specific timeline to it,” Mr. Agyarko said in reaction to a question on when the project will be completed.
He disclosed that there are stringent measures that must be met before the construction site is even approved.
“If you look at the programme they gave, in the construction phase, they put a question mark, but suffice it to say that we know we have 19 steps to complete, it will take some time but will depend on our own efforts as we take the box on all the 19 steps,” he said.
“What we have to do is to take one step at a time and make sure that we complete each step as is required of us, rather than put a number and in our hurry to meet that number , we will cut corners and neglect the safety requirement around the programme,” he stressed.
Mr. Agyarko noted that the agency does not compromise on the safety measures as it is revised constantly to improve nuclear power.
“Remember the most important thing about nuclear energy is the safety culture that we build into it. So we need to focus one step at a time rather than be in a hurry to meet imaginary ditch,” he warned.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana