Local industries should take advantage of nuclear power plant construction

Dr. Stephen Yamoah, Executive Director, Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), says opportunities abound in nuclear power for industrial acceleration and urged local industries to take advantage of the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Ghana.

He said the material requirements for the construction of a typically large nuclear power plant included civil construction works, electrical, mechanical, instrumentation control among others.

For instance, he said for construction works, some 60,000 tons of cement, about 200-metre cube of concrete, reinforcement 20,000 tonnes, paint 200,000-metre cube, 430,000 metres of electrical cables, among others were needed/.

The Executive Director was speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop for selected media professionals on Ghana’s steps into the nuclear future.

He said those materials were readily produced and available locally, and therefore called on the local industries to leverage on that and produce the needed materials when construction of the nuclear power plant commenced.

The workshop formed part of a series of collaborations with the Ghana Journalists Association to promote and sustain media involvement through knowledge sharing, and to widen information reach, on Ghana’s efforts to include Nuclear Power as an alternative baseload in its generation mix.

Dr. Yamoah said explicit requirements and standards would be strictly adhered to to ensure that materials supplied by local industries met the right standard and specifications.

He said: "If as a country, we want local industries to benefit, and we go for a percentage of these items from the local industry, the risk will be on Nuclear Power Ghana to ensure that they deliver as required and on schedule."

He stressed that the longer it took to construct the power plant, the more expensive it became and said in the event that they were unable to deliver, the project was likely to suffer some considerable risk and undermine the gains made over the years.

"So for a company to participate and take advantage of all these opportunities, their standards and requirements must be the nuclear standard," he emphasised.

He said to ensure that the local industries had an understanding of what was required, the NPA had started some engagements with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), adding that as part of the first phase of the project, an industry survey was conducted categorising local industries and their service provisions.

Mr. Anthony Boya Osafo-Kissi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Engineering), Bui Power Authority, said the Authority was a major shareholder of Nuclear Power Ghana to provide reliable and affordable power to support the integration of large scale intermittent Renewable Energy sources from solar and wind power.

“So far, there is no evidence on the dependence on only intermittent renewable sources though sustainable, having supported industrialisation without first having adequate baseload power from hydro, coal, and natural gas or nuclear,” he said.

That, he said, was indicative of Bui Power Authority’s commitment to supporting NPG to develop the first Nuclear Power Plant in Ghana, adding that nuclear power was clean and emitted no carbon dioxide unlike coal and other thermal power plants.