Accra, Nov. 30, GNA – Fifteen vendors from different countries have expressed interest in partnering the Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG) to establish the country’s first Nuclear Power Plant, Dr Stephen Yamoah, the Executive Director, NPG, said.
Whereas six companies are interested in establishing Large Reactors (700-1200), nine others are interested in establishing Small Modular Reactors (300 MWe and below), he said, at a workshop for selected media professionals in Accra on Tuesday.
The companies are from China, US, Russia, Korea, Canada and France.
Dr Yamoah said the NPG was evaluating the proposals and a report would be submitted to the Minister of Energy for action after the assessment.
The Government, in recent years, has intensified efforts to add nuclear power to the country’s energy mix – and the target is to establish the first nuclear power plant by 2030.
The NPG, established in 2018 to champion the country’s nuclear power programme, is undertaking feasibility studies to facilitate the realisation of the 2030 target.
Dr Yamoah said they had successfully completed the first phase of the requirements adding that the second phase, which involved the selection of the project site and vendors, was on course.
With respect to the selection of vendors, he
said the NPG, through the Energy Ministry, sent invitations to six different countries, including China, Russia, and India for assistance.
“With the exception of India, all the countries responded to the request. India said it has so many commitments at the moment so it cannot come on board,” he said.
On the site selection, he said, the NPG had settled on four locations and said further studies were ongoing to settle on one of the sites.
“Once we are done with our evaluation of the proposals from the vendors, we will send our report to the Energy Minster then we take it from there. So far, everything is on course,” he said.
Dr Yamoah said the NPG was exploring various financial options for the project, hence its decision to engage the vendors to adopt the most appropriate and affordable technology.
“We want industries to come on board and deliver because the longer we postpone the project, the more expensive it becomes,” he said.
Ghana’s population is projected to grow to roughly 38 million by 2030. It is expected that residential and industrial demand for electricity will increase at the same time.
This has necessitated the need for the country to explore sustainable options to generate affordable electricity to meet the expected demand.
It is also in line with the country’s quest to increase power generation while reducing emissions.
Nuclear power plants produce electricity through the nuclear reactors and their equipment inside the plants, which contain and control chain reactions, most commonly fueled by uranium-235, to produce heat through fission.
The heat warms the reactor’s cooling agent, typically water, to produce steam.
The steam is then channeled to spin turbines, activating an electric generator to create low-carbon electricity.
GNA