Nuclear Energy in Ghana? History, Science and Policy

This paper discusses the issue of nuclear energy in Ghana, although the country is not operating a nuclear plant, the study focuses on the energy crisis that persistently hit the country and government’s plans to opt for nuclear energy as part of Ghana’s energy’s mix to cater for the shortfalls in Ghana’s electricity generation. Ghana after independence decided to add nuclear energy into its energy mix to promote industrialization and make Ghana an industrial hub and investment destination as well as make it a net exporter of power in Africa. In spite of this plan for a nuclear plant resurfacing within contemporary discourse, there has been a strong opposition against the country going nuclear, citing some safety and security issues which are sometimes fueled by lack of an in depth knowledge of what nuclear energy really entails. Qualitative research approach was employed to investigate Ghana’s drive for attaining its initial plans for a nuclear plant. Data has been retrieved from both primary and secondary sources. The analysis of the data collected revealed that Ghana’s inability to operate a nuclear plant is as a result of fear of a nuclear disaster like it happened at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA, Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukishima Daichi in Japan, as well as the safety of the nuclear plants and the radioactive wastes emitted into the environment. The study revealed that this fear of people regarding nuclear energy is over-emphasized and again the major nuclear disasters that have rocked the world were caused by human error; in most cases security warnings were ignored. The study established that the delay in executing the plans are due to monetary challenges since building a nuclear plant involves a lot of money. This notwithstanding, Ghana has enough skilled nuclear scientists to manage the country’s nuclear plants should any be built.