Nigeria’s expedition
into Nuclear energy seems to be gathering momentum. The country has taken even
more steps in that direction since it signed a cooperation
accord with Russia
towards the construction of its first nuclear power plant in 2012. While this
has garnered positive attention from
many observers across the world, it has also gathered criticism from naysayers
who compare the country with a toddler who has not learned to walk, but is in a
hurry to run.
However, not many
people understand nuclear power like Dr. Kirill Komarov. As First Deputy CEO of
Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy company, he believes that the country is more
than ready for nuclear energy.
In this exclusive interview with Hi-Tech, he
talks about nuclear’s ability to transform the nation’s power sector, and
invariably the economy at predictable costs. Excerpts:
By Prince Osuagwu
WHAT
brought you here?
Nigeria is very interesting to us at Rosatom from several
points of view.
We are a very unique organisation which combines two statuses
at the same time. One is the status of Ministry of nuclear energy in Russia,
and the second is our status as a commercial organisation.
We own more than 400
business entities. But the most unique is that we are the only organisation in
the world that combines all the technological elements in the nuclear area;
from mining and enrichment of uranium to production of nuclear fuels to
manufacturing of nuclear equipment, construction of nuclear power plants among
others.
For a country like
Nigeria, it means we can bring a lot to the table because our experience is now
more than 70 years. We began our nuclear experience in Russia in 1945 just
after the Second World War. In 2015, we celebrated our 70th year anniversary.
How does your history help us?
We can bring our experience not just strictly in
the area of nuclear power, but to use nuclear in other areas such as nuclear
medicine, radioactive technologies for agriculture, radioactive tech for
different industrial solutions among others. One opportunity is the fact that
there is a huge energy deficit in Nigeria; there are several figures to
compare. Nigeria’s population is more than that of Russia.
We have 140 million
people in Russia, Nigeria has about 180 million. We have about 220 Gigawatts of
electricity in the national energy system, Nigeria has six Gigawatts. This
means that Nigeria is suffering from lack of electricity.“Nigeria is very
similar to Russia. We have many natural resources like coal, gas, among others,
just as Nigeria does. But even at that,
Russia is still investing in nuclear.
Why?
Every country should have a special
solution as to what sort of energy mix it wants to have. And it is very
dangerous to have only one source of energy no matter how efficient it is. For
example, we have a lot of coal and gas, but their prices have a high
volatility. Sometimes they are very high, sometimes they are low. What we must
take note of is the final cost of electricity, which is approximately 60 or 70
percent higher.
If the price of coal doubles, it means that the final cost of
electricity will be 70 percent more; same for gas. However the cost of uranium,
which is produced on a nuclear power plant, has just a three percent
implication on the cost of electricity. Even if the cost of uranium goes up, you
may not even feel the little impact it would have on electricity. That is very
important for the people and for the industries. If you have predictable prices
for electricity for the next sixty years, which is the minimum time to operate
a modern nuclear power plant, it really helps to grow the economy.
In 2012,
Nigeria signed an international agreement for the construction of the first
nuclear power plant and Rosatom was chosen to do that. How far has it been?
You
are correct. We are very proud of that and will do our best to achieve this
goal. “What we decided to do was to create a special joint committee which is
headed from the Russian side by me, and from the Nigerian side, by Dr. Franklin
Erepamo Osaisai, Chairman, CEO of Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission. This joint
coordination committee had several tasks. The first was to implement this
agreement with Nigeria about the construction of the first nuclear power plant.
We have made some practical steps. We have prepared the project development
agreement. It is a lot of work even before the project itself starts. We need
to prepare good feasibility studies for banks and other investors.
Future
nuclear development
We also prepared a very detailed plan about what we will do
in the next two years to be able to finalize this feasibility study and then be
ready to commence the project before the start of 2019. It is a good
opportunity for both countries.“Our focus is on preparing a detailed plan on
how we can answer all the tough questions in the space of two years.
But, in
2016 in Moscow, there was another Inter-Governmental agreement?
Yes, that is
for the first multi-purpose nuclear research centre in Nigeria. It is very
important because it can be done much faster than a nuclear power plant, it can
create a platform for the future nuclear development of the country, and can
help young people to start making
scientific experiments and research in the field. It is a very practical step
and can aid in area of nuclear medicine. The centre would be able to make nuclear
isotopes that can aid therapy and fight against cancer and other types of
ontological diseases. We will start work on the centre immediately. This will
also aid in the agricultural sector. Radiological treatments can keep
agricultural products fresher for longer. It also fights against microbes. Just
like we discussed with the Minister of Science and technology, Agriculture is
very important to Nigeria. So if we find a way to preserve products for longer,
it aids trade and exportation. It is very important that we prepare a draft of
project development agreement for this project. Our idea is to finalize plans
and sign all relevant contracts before the first half of 2018, and then in the
second half of 2018, we plan to construct the nuclear resource centre.
How long
can this project take to achieve?
We are just at the preliminary stages now,
but I believe that we have a very detailed timeline of what we want to do in
the future. Rosatom isn’t the only determining factor, there are other players.
However, if all the parties follow the timeline we agreed on today, I think we
can be successful. It’s difficult to say because it is the first nuclear
project in the country, but the results of the special check up mission which
was just a few months ago, by Atomic agencies of the most respected
international organisations is very positive.
Please pardon my curiosity. Is
low electricity capacity enough reason to jump into nuclear? Why does Nigeria
need nuclear?
It is true that nuclear is new for Nigeria. But it is new for a
lot of countries as well. But it should be a comfortable move when you are
working with an experienced partner like Rosatom. Using an energy mix is very
profitable. You can use coal, solar, wind, hydro and nuclear. Nuclear is very
stable and very predictable. Coal and gas plants are like a box, but it’s not
your box. It is a box which is imported to your country from another country,
and the participation of Nigerian industry in construction is very small.
Nuclear however, is a huge infrastructure. Even countries that just began their
construction of nuclear, there is a lack of experience. 20 to 25 percent of the
project can be done by local companies.
Equipment producer
Four nuclear units
for example is a huge investment, about 20 billion dollars. If you create four
units, believe me, you will be able to fulfil about 40 percent of the project;
which means about eight billion dollars for local companies. We can calculate
the social economic impact of the construction of nuclear power plants to the whole
economy. Each dollar invested in a nuclear power plant adds three to four
dollars to a country’s GDP. The equipment is produced from metal, so the
equipment producer makes some orders to the metal producer, who will pay
salaries for people, produce the next level of orders, and on each level, you
have money and there is a multiplier effect.
This has a positive effect on the economy, particularly now there is
recession.
vanguardngr
0 Comments