Nuclear power not the answer to energy problems

Rose Wanjiku

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is coming to Kenya this month, a surprising visit considering even Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka seemed hard put to explain why we want closer relations with his country.

The visit will definitely ruffle feathers because of the Iranian’s standing with countries we count as friends. Without doubt, Israel, which Ahmadinejad once said should be wiped off the face of the earth, is not amused.

Hopefully, he won’t be repeating his disbelief in the Holocaust or berating US President George W Bush, his successor Barack Obama, America or Britain, especially on the invasion of Iraq and nuclear power issues.

Ears will be on the ground to find out what President Kibaki and Ahmadinejad will discuss. Activists will be waiting to hear whether another Qatari-like land deal will be brokered. Most attention, however, will be on what tips Tehran has on energy alternatives, particularly nuclear power.

There has been some excitement about this following hints from Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi. However, Iran’s nuclear programme has been opposed by the US, UK and others who say the ‘rogue’ nation intends to use the technology to make weapons, something the Iranians refute.

Considering that nuclear energy is clean and reliable, and that the country could use extra power generation, forking our Sh80 billion for a nuclear power plant seems a wise option. According to Kiraitu, talks are in top gear and Kenya — with expertise from the UK — could have the first power plant running within seven years.

This, the ministry claims, together with investment in geothermal plants, would enable us export power to neighbouring countries.

Head First

But, as in the adoption of other technologies, the country seems in a hurry to jump in head first, overlooking the fact that there is little or no manpower available to deal with nuclear energy production.

Kiraitu says that, initially, expatriates will run the show. But nuclear energy production requires more than merely maintaining the reactor. Technology is good, but not when the cart is before the horse.

Kenya has considered alteratives to hydroelectric energy for years. Apart from geothermal energy, which hold the promise of doubling our power generation capacity, there have been many pie-in-the-sky ideas.

A year ago, the talk was about bio-fuels, perhaps from the jatropha tree. It was estimated bio-diesels could reduce dependency on fossil fuels by five per cent. There is now little talk of the tree that was supposed to work wonders for poor subsistence farmers in arid areas and become an alternative fuel source.

The search for new energy sources for a country that is largely dependent on oil is understandable. However, jumping into a ship because it is the one leaving the dock at that time is not right. Granted, nuclear energy is relatively clean (compared to, say, the Sh35 billion coal-powered plant that KenGen plans to invest in) but there are cleaner and more reliable alternatives such as solar and wind energy.

And that’s before we consider the biggest worry: How to handle nuclear waste. Although not much is produced, it is very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many thousands of years to allow the radioactivity to die away.

This is difficult and expensive. A lot of money has to be spent on safety and waste disposal. Kenya is yet to succeed in managing its solid wastes in most of its cities. How can we even begin thinking about nuclear waste?

Part of Vision 2030 is to improve livelihoods. With a population almost clocking 37 million, the Government has to be wise on alternative sources of energy. The immediate alternative should not be nuclear, but geothermal energy, some hydropower expansion and greener alternatives.

Government could encourage private sector investment and micro-financing of energy production. In Germany, for example, the State pays people who connect solar and wind power generators to the national grid. As for Ahmadinejad, who holds a PhD in traffic and transport from Tehran’s University of Science, perhaps what Kenya should be eager to learn from him is how we can improve our roads and beat jams that cost billions.

The writer is a sub-editor in the Standard Group’s Weekend Editions.