Namibia plans to nuclear to achieve energy sufficiency
Posted : Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:48:09 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Africa (World)
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Windhoek - An environmental lobby group in Namibia on Monday urged the government not to go the nuclear route after it emerged the state was considering building a nuclear power plant to end its dependence on electricity imports. The government of the southern African desert state, in a cabinet briefing paper released late last week, said it was considering building a nuclear power plant and a uranium enrichment programme.
"This will provide for a long-term solution to the shortfall in electricity generation capacity and to enable the vast uranium resources of the country to be processed to the benefit of the country," the briefing paper said.
At the cabinet meeting the government approved the development of a nuclear regulatory framework, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stipulates must precede the building of a nuclear power plant or uranium-enrichment facility.
"I would hope that the Namibian government will desist from building a nuclear power station and enriching uranium locally for a number of reasons," Bertchen Kohrs, chair of Earthlife Namibia, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Kohrs said Namibia offered huge potential for solar-, wind-and hydropower, which if utilized properly, would make a nuclear power station unnecessary.
He also pointed to issues surrounding the disposal of nuclear waste, the danger of nuclear accidents, vulnerability to terrorist attacks and the dearth of skills in Namibia "to construct and then especially to maintain a nuclear power plant" as reasons for a rethink.
Namibia is the world's fifth-largest uranium producer. Yellowcake, the raw material in uranium enrichment - enriched uranium is used in producing nuclear power and weapons - fetches around 100 dollars per kilogramme on the international market.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy believes that by enriching uranium locally it could make a "net profit margin of at least 1,000 dollars per kilogramme."
The past two years has seen an international resurgence of interest in nuclear energy, caused by concerns over the carbon footprint of fossil-fuel burning power stations.
Two more uranium mines have opened alongside Rio Tinto's Rossing Uranium Mine, the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world which has been operating for thirty years.
In total 16 companies have been awarded licenses to prospect for uranium.
Namibia is also looking at boosting output from renewable energy sources such solar and wind, which experts believe could fully power the nation of just over 3 million people.
