Arese Carrington
By Dr Arese Carrington
Despite the efficiency of the Japanese government and its people, their advancement in technology and history of excellent disaster management preparedness, the accident in Japan turned out to be the worst nuclear calamity since Chernobyl.
History is the study of the present and the past to project into the future.
Nigeria’s record of disaster management or maintenance culture leaves much to be desired, so how can it want to project into a future of nuclear energy with all the attendant jeopardy.
It does not take an energy expert to be able to state basic obvious facts. Any major mishap involving radiation leakage from a nuclear plant can lead to a disaster of cataclysmic proportions resulting in thousands of deaths, long term health problems including birth defects and spikes in cancer incidents. The aftermath of such a calamity in a highly populated country like Nigeria would send shock waves around the world. A breach in the nuclear containers of a reactor or a meltdown would release deadly materials into the atmosphere and ground and could literally obliterate parts of the country and turn them into waste lands and “ghost lands.”
The people deserve constant electricity power but do not deserve to die for it. Which state and whose “backyard” are the nuclear power plants going to be built in? The people need to understand the imminent danger of a nuclear power plant being built in their community. Nigeria is blessed with sunshine; it can invest in solar energy. It has vast areas of empty flat land so it can invest in wind energy by using turbines. It has valleys and lakes thus it can invest in hydro-electric power by building dams. Kainji dam is one of the longest dams in the world. I remember when the Kainji dam was built. It was touted that Nigeria would even be able to supply electricity to neighbouring countries. Was the dam ever maintained? Are all the hydro-electric turbines working? Even if the dam is drying up, additional new hydroelectric dams can be built. Hydro-electric power stations if properly maintained can be a relative inexpensive source of power supply. There are a lot of hydro-electric power stations around the world today. Sun, wind and water, these are all safer renewable sources of energy.
Countries far more proficient in disaster management, than Nigeria, such as the United States and Russia, have not been able to avoid nuclear accidents. In the wake of the crisis in Japan, Germany has announced the shutting down and phasing out of its nuclear plants. Yet, Nigeria has decided to forge ahead saying that it will live up to international standards which, even when strictly adhered to, have not prevented nuclear accidents elsewhere. Nigeria should not subject its people to that risk.
2 comments:
Great article. It high time we paid attention to our energy policies.
She makes A̶̲̥̅̊ lot of sense
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