A Senior Staff at the Ghana Gas Company, Dr. Riverson Oppong has highlighted the significance of Nuclear Energy to the country’s power system and has envisaged it to meet future electricity demands.
Dr. Oppong who is the Manager in charge of Commercial Operations at Ghana Gas noted the planned inclusion of Nuclear Energy to the country’s power system will provide sustainability.
According to him, getting access to other sources of energy to expand the electricity production is key to the Energy Transition plan.
He disclosed this to Angelonline.com.gh on the sidelines of a media training on Energy Transition, under the theme “Building Media Capacity for Effective Energy Transition Reporting.”
The one-day training exercise held at the Crystal Palm Hotel was organized by Citi FM/Citi TV in partnership with the Natural Resource Governing Institute (NRGI).
“When it comes to electricity, the need to get different sources of power is necessary. Additionally, we all know that we depend solely on Akosombo Dam which is hydro, Gas power from Ghana Gas, and solar power from the Bui Power Authority but the Nuclear Plant we intend to implement which is [Energy Transition Plan] seeks a sustainable and stabilizing solution for our power distribution system,” he explained.
Touching on Ghana’s Energy’s transition plan by 2070, the energy expert said the sustainability of energy would be occasioned by “affordability, accessibility and availability.”
He observed that though concerns are being raised by the general public on the risk involved in using the Nuclear Plant, that shouldn’t hinder the potential of sourcing the country with efficient electricity.
“Many have indeed raised a series of concerns owning to incidents that occurred in Japan and Ukraine but we must understand that accidents come by unexpectedly so this should not scare us because the nuclear plant is an affordable source of energy and it is capable of sourcing the country with efficient electricity to enhance all and sundry,” stressed Dr. Riverson Oppong.
He continued that “Currently, Egypt and South Africa are the only countries using nuclear plants on the continent so there is nothing wrong for us [Ghana] to also follow suit.”
The Ghana Gas senior staff on that score underscored the necessity for energy experts, resource personnel, and most especially the media to educate the public on the importance of the nuclear plant contrary to their views.
