The Director General of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Prof Benjamin Jabez Botwe Nyarko has indicated that Ghana has been applying nuclear technology for peaceful applications and wondered how some people would have erroneous perception that the Commission may be into the manufacture of atomic bomb.
According to him, the Commission was set up to champion the enormous benefits that can be derived from the atom and this has been the focus of the commission since its establishment.
He said Ghana has committed to the peaceful applications of nuclear technology by signing on to international conventions and treaties that empowers international bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect and monitor every activity of the Commission.
“You cannot engage in non-peaceful applications of nuclear technology in a secret way. You will be found out no matter where you’re doing the thing, so, atomic activities are not a secret activity,” he said during an exclusive interview with energynewsafrica.com.
“We have subscribed to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that we will not do anything apart from peaceful uses of nuclear applications,” he added.
The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 204 of 1963, as the sole Agency in Ghana responsible for all matters relating to peaceful uses of atomic energy.
The Act 204 was amended in 1993 by PNDC Law 308 mainly to enable it to create other institutes under the Commission. This amendment resulted in the creation of two other institutes in addition to the National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), formerly Kwame Nkrumah Nuclear Research Institute (KNNRI), namely: the Radiation Protection Institute, and the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI).
The founding Act 204 of 1963 has been superseded by Act 588 of 2000 to make provision for GAEC to undertake commercialisation of its research and development results. Currently, the commission has seven technical institutes engaged in various aspects of peaceful applications of nuclear technology.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com