Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Electricity: Nigeria considers nuclear power

Bode, which of our Universities has made any significant mark in the
cure or treatment of malaria and sickle cell?

Universities lead innovation and even commercialise such innovations.
While I do not expect Nigerian Universities to reinvent the wheel;
they can make it spin just a little faster.

I am as alarmed as anybody on the issue of Nuclear power generation.
If we cannot maintain turbines in our HEP dams how on earth are we
going to achieve this quantum leap? With local terror and myriad
ethnic militias have we weighed the threat of sabotage?

On 6/22/15, Soni Oyekan <sonioyekan@gmail.com> wrote:
> I share strongly the sense of alarm and significant disbelief at the
> considerations by some to use nuclear energy in Nigeria at this time. We
> have not demonstrated that we can effectively. safely and profitably run
> oil refineries, reliable power plants and have no manufacturing base by
> global standards. We also have a weak to non existent national safety and
> environmental oversight agency with no clout. Review the massive
> environmental pollution in the oil producing areas of the country.
>
> We are not in a position to run nuclear reactors and we have to be quite
> blunt to save our country from any potential nuclear disaster that could
> kill thousands of Nigerians and leave generations contaminated with
> radioactive materials. Please review the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in
> Russia and the nuclear disaster that was partially contained by Japanese
> engineers who sacrificed themselves for their fellow Japanese by working to
> contain radioactive materials when the Tsunami hit Japan.
>
> Yes, I agree with all who are stunned, concerned and wish to safeguard our
> fellow Nigerians from potential nuclear disasters. We might get there some
> decades later after we get our manufacturing base in order. We are
> definitely not there as yet and please let us always as engineers consider
> the welfare of millions of Nigerians.
>
> Soni Oyekan, PhD
> President/CEO
> Prafis Energy Solutions
> Richmond, TX
>
> On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 4:14 PM, Victor Okafor <vokafor@emich.edu> wrote:
>
>> Doyin:
>>
>>
>> Given Nigeria's bureaucracy's general ineptitude, its ineffectual though
>> constitutionally-stipulated system of checks and balances, your sense of
>> alarm is not baseless. I share that sense of alarm, and, unfortunately, I
>> foresee another "Ajaokuta Steel Mill" scenario playing itself out but
>> this
>> time around with unfathomable disastrous potentials. The word "nuclear"
>> should be deleted from Nigeria's planning lexicon.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From: *"DOYIN AGUORU" <doyinaguoru77@gmail.com>
>> *To: *"USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <
>> usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> *Sent: *Monday, June 22, 2015 4:44:01 PM
>> *Subject: *Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Electricity: Nigeria
>> considers nuclear power
>>
>> This is alarming!
>> The nuclear destruction of the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011 got the
>> country thinking of alternatives and solar fields were planted.
>> Why will Nigeria that has not the sincerity nor wherewithal to combat
>> national disasters consider the nuclear option in generating energy?
>> On 22 Jun 2015 19:05, "Bode" <ominira@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Ugo. You would think they would try solar first given the
>>> abundance of solar energy to be harvested in that tropical climate. By
>>> the
>>> way, a few businesses and individuals have been harnessing solar
>>> technology
>>> for sometime now, which is by far safer. Why not consolidate those
>>> efforts
>>> into a national program? It just goes to show they are not quite serious
>>> yet.
>>> Bode
>>>
>>> On 6/22/15, 1:40 AM, "Ugo Nwokeji" <ugo@berkeley.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> This sounds like a badly conceived joke? Here is my reaction to this
>>> news
>>> (below) in another forum:
>>>
>>> "We we don't have any technological achievement of major significance to
>>> our name; we just don't currently have the technical base to embark on
>>> such
>>> a venture at this stage. We have made an absolute mess of the steel
>>> plants
>>> that have gulped tens of billions of dollars in nearly 40 years. We have
>>> not even demonstrated a capacity to tap and harness our God-given
>>> petroleum
>>> resources (foreigners are still responsible for the much of the
>>> technical
>>> capacity in the critical oil gas industry), to run our refineries or to
>>> generate electricity for our people and business. We have not invested
>>> in
>>> solar (despite our abundant sun!), wind and other clean fuels, which are
>>> the future.
>>>
>>> How does anybody now think that nuclear power will solve our problems,
>>> that in spite of these failures and glaring lack of capacity we can
>>> somehow
>>> get this much more sophisticated and immensely dangerous venture right?
>>>
>>> I do not vent or criticize for the mere sake of it. It is a
>>> responsibility to speak up when your seems to jump into a fire. I want
>>> us
>>> to soar to the heights, but we can only get there carefully and in an
>>> orderly fashion. But this whole sounds like April Fool. Are we now to
>>> use
>>> our scarce resources in a venture that our track record and capacity
>>> predict certain failure and danger? It has misplacement of priorities
>>> written all over it.
>>>
>>> I hope the Buhari administration will put a halt to this white elephant
>>> venture of the most macabre type.
>>>
>>> Ugo"
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/185423-nigeria-conducts-drills-to-counter-nuclear-disaster.html
>>>
>>> Nigeria conducts drills to counter nuclear disaster
>>> June 20, 2015
>>> <http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/185423-nigeria-conducts-drills-to-counter-nuclear-disaster.html>Premium
>>> Times <http://www.premiumtimesng.com/author/webmaster>
>>> [image: unnamed (5)]
>>> ​The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has conducted drills to
>>> deal with nuclear disaster that may arise in the country.
>>>
>>> The NSCDC said Saturday training of officers of the Chemical,
>>> Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Unit, a specialised unit of the
>>> corps,
>>> had since begun.
>>>
>>> "The specialised unit, established to tackle emergency situations
>>> related
>>> to chemical poisoning and nuclear explosions, has also carried out a
>>> simulation exercise as part of its operational strategy," the corps said
>>> in
>>> a statement.
>>>
>>> The statement, signed by spokesperson Emmanuel Okeh, said simulation
>>> exercise was carried out in collaboration with the International Atomic
>>> Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nigeria Nuclear and Regulatory Agency.
>>>
>>> He said that the theme of simulation, "Transportation accident involving
>>> a radioactive source'', was meant to prepare officials, especially as
>>> Nigeria gears towards the use of nuclear plants to generate electricity.
>>>
>>> "The Commandant-General of the Corps, Dr Ade Abolurin, has also stressed
>>> the importance of the unit, and called for awareness on the destructive
>>> tendencies of nuclear energy if not well managed," he said.
>>>
>>> "We are also doing a lot to sensitise the public on the different
>>> dimensions of crime, which now involves the use of chemicals, bombs and
>>> other dangerous substances," the statement added
>>>
>>> He quoted, Pablo Jerez of the IAEA, as pledging the support of the
>>> agency
>>> to the NSCDC, especially as regards provision of operational tools and
>>> equipment.
>>>
>>> "We are also ready to partner with relevant stakeholders so as to be
>>> able
>>> to prevent and tackle any form of chemical, radiological and nuclear
>>> disaster in the country," he said.
>>> (NAN)​
>>>
>>>
>>> *G. Ugo Nwokeji*
>>>
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