By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, Oct. 26, GNA – The directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to relocate Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO) to the presidency will enhance coordination.
The GNPPO is the apex body of the country’s nuclear power programme, which comprises high-level inter-agency decision making mechanisms.
Prior to the recent directive for the re-alignment, the body was under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy.
Dr Stephen Yamoah, the Executive Director of Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, commended the government for taking that decision due to its important role in the implementation of the nuclear power programme.
“The announcement is welcomed news and we need such a high authority to ensure that all the facets of the arms of the nuclear power programme work within the project time frame,” he said.
The re-alignment, he said, would give a new focus to the GNPPO having completed the phase one and shifting focus to phase two.
Under the GNPPO, he said there were two levels – the Technical bodies – led by the Nuclear Power Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, the fulcrum of technical activities and the Advisory Body – mandated to ensure effective coordination among the ministries and agencies.
Professor Seth Kofi Debrah, the Director of NPI, said the GNPPO would be dealing with trade, human resource development, energy generation and regulations that would need a higher body to ensure effective and efficient coordination and implementation.
Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), the established Owner/Operator of Ghana’s proposed Nuclear Power Plant(s), has successfully completed Phase one activities as required by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In Phase 2 of the Programme, it has made strides in the required processes and currently making efforts to facilitate the public announcement of the preferred site, the technology Ghana has opted for, and the selected Vendor/Strategic Partner for the Project by the end of 2022.
To develop sustainably, have clean, reliable, safe power and ensure secured and smooth energy transition, Ghana decided to include nuclear power in its energy mix – solar, hydropower, and thermal.
The deployment of nuclear power in Ghana is also in line with the country’s Green Energy Solutions commitments and the government’s medium to long-term strategy of actualising industrialisation and socio-economic development within the West African sub-region.
GNA