Ghana’s two major political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have both expressed their commitment to nuclear power development by promising to introduce nuclear power into the country’s energy mix in their Manifestos for the 2024 General Election.
Ghana’s energy mix is mainly from hydroelectric power, thermal and solar energy.
However, the demand for reliable and affordable power has necessitated the need for the West African country to add nuclear power into the energy mix.
Consequently, the country has made strides towards establishing the first nuclear power and is currently at the second stage of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requirements for nuclear power projects.
According to Nuclear Power Ghana, the agency spearheading the nuclear power project has identified the Central and Western Regions of Ghana as the two suitable locations for the siting of the nuclear power plant.
Interestingly, the quest for nuclear power projects has received endorsement from the two major political parties.
On page 110 of the 2024 Manifesto of the NPP, it said, “Under the Bawumia presidency, we will continue the government’s plans to establish a nuclear power plant to generate affordable electricity for industrial and domestic uses.”
The NDC also said, “Under Mr John Dramani Mahama, we will systematically: implement an energy transition strategy that will augment thermal and hydropower production with nuclear and other renewable energy sources like solar, wind, biogas, waste-to-energy and other off-grid energy systems such as mini-hydropower production (e.g. Juale, Pwalugu and Pra), optimising the flexibility and adaptability of our power system and supporting planned special production zones while reducing our carbon footprint.”
The Executive Director for Nuclear Power Ghana Dr Stephen Yamoah recently disclosed that the NPG is in the process to request for IAEA site and external events design SEED mission.
This assessment will afford the IAEA experts the opportunity to review Ghana’s siting activities for construction of nuclear power plant up to the point of preferred site identification.
The mission will thus afford NPG the opportunity to fill in gaps when undertaking the detailed site characterisation studies, which is the next stage of the siting activities and seek regulatory approval before the site can be ready for construction
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com