By Okiemute Okpomor. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has criticized in strong terms the Nigerian government cooperation agreement with Russia’s ROSATOM to build four nuclear power plants in the country despite inherent dangers just as it says that it is ill-timed as most civilized nations are exploring safe re-newable energy.
ERA/FoEN in a statement signed by Mr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, its’ Executive Director said that the decision of the Nigerian government to experiment with the nuclear option is not only shocking but also a betrayal of the Nigerian people who have roundly rejected the dangerous path since the technology is unsafe and by virtue of its total control by the Russian firm will create a state within the Nigerian state.
According to Mr. Ojo, “we are miffed that a cooperation agreement on this dangerous experiment has been reached despite the aversion of Nigerians to the nuclear option for generating power. We reject it and refuse to be led into a radioactive misadventure that western countries that hitherto experimented are weaning themselves off and exploring safe re-newable”
Mr. Ojo noted that with the Chernobyl and recent Fukushima incident in Japan still fresh in mind, the Nigerian and Russian promoters of the project have neither consulted Nigerians nor taken into cognizance the fact that the project will ultimately tie the country to the whims of the Russian vendor which can be described as the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy.
He added, “we also gathered that the huge cost associated with the plants also leaves much to be desired because one facility of the kind and capacity that ROSATOM is planning to construct in Nigeria is about 7 billion euro in Finland while same goes for $20 billion here.”
Mr. Ojo disclosed that ERA/FoEN was part of a team of environmental activists and journalists that visited the proposed 1,200 MW Hanhikivi nuclear power plant in Pyhajoki, Finland under construction by ROSATOM saying that at the venue they expressed misgivings about the project and total aversion of Nigerians to building same in Nigeria, adding, “in Finland the issue of how the spent nuclear fuel will be managed is now a burning question among local activists who staged resistance rallies against the planned construction in July”.
He pointed out that other issues that readily pop up are how the
wastes will also be managed in Nigeria and where ROSATOM will get the funds for the construction, Mr. Ojo spoke further, “without mincing words, for the average Nigerian, the details are scary enough. We reject the nuclear option for power generation because they are dangerous and we do not have the capacity to manage the potential disaster a nuclear breach may cause. “We advocate the renewal of the Nigerian grid and energy sector. In doing this, renewables are the way to go since they make for both profitable business and safety. We do not support the dirty, unsafe and expensive reactors this government has agreed to build”.
It could be recalled that a release from the Communications department of ROSATOM stated that the Nigeria-Russia deal was brokered on 30 May 2016 on the sidelines of the VIII International Forum ATOMEXPO 2016 which held May 30-June 1, 2016 in Moscow and will start with the construction of a Center for Nuclear Research and Technology in Sheba-Abuja.
According to the release, the Agreement provides for the construction of a Center with the two-circuit pool-type reactor of the Russian design and a nominal power rating of 10 MW in Sheba-Abuja. Four nuclear plants that ROSATOM will build will cost about $80billion, with the first expected to be ready by 2025. The other three will be ready by 2035.
In the release, Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, chairman and CEO of the
Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) said the plants will be
financed by ROSATOM, which will then build, own, operate and transfer same to the Nigerian government which will enter a power-purchasing agreement. Kogi and Akwa Ibom States are to host the plants.
