MPs divided over State’s plan for 4,000MW nuclear energy

Nyaribari Chache Member of Parliament Richard Nyagaka has opposed government plans to embrace nuclear energy as an alternative source of power.

His sentiments were, however, quickly brushed aside by his Mwala counterpart Vincent Musau, an engineer, as being argued “from a point of ignorance”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference on Energy and Nuclear Power in Africa in Diani, Mr Nyagaka said nuclear is not the way to go when Kenya has not fully exploited the potential of geothermal, wind, hydro and coal energy.

“This is something that we need to think about, but not at the moment,” he said. “We need time to exploit what we already have.”

Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge on Monday told conference attendees Kenya plans to raise 4,000MW of power from nuclear energy by 2031 to hedge against other forms of energy he described as costlier and less reliable.

Nyagaka explained that there is no need for Kenya to invest in nuclear energy considering the fact that countries like Germany, which have the capacity and manpower to run such power stations, are running away from it.

He added that the investment required was “too heavy for the economy”.

“Countries like Japan and China that have gone nuclear do not have the options we have,” he said.

The legislator said the conference was a good idea but cautioned there are businessmen with a secret agenda to get Africa to go nuclear. He added that they are mainly focused on profitmaking and not any likely after effects.

However, the chairman of Parliament’s ICT and energy committee Vincent Musau refuted claims that there is a business agenda being pushed.

Mr Musau pointed out that Kenya has 2.2 giga watts (GW) of power while South Africa has over 40GW, creating a more conducive environment for investment.

“A single nuclear reactor in Korea is giving over 2GW (2,000MW) of power, which is equivalent to all collective energies in this country,” he said. “We need to prepare ourselves.”

He added that geothermal, Kenya’s best bet at the moment, is likely to peak at only 10GW and will not be cheap enough to have an impact on the economy.

The closure of nuclear reactors by other countries, he noted, is driven more by politics than safety issues. Only three incidents have been reported in the world and proper mechanisms to avoid recurrence have been put in place, he said.

“Many people argue about nuclear power from a point of ignorance,” he said. “I refuse to be told that there is any danger in exploiting nuclear power.”