Kenya takes baby steps towards nuclear power

Kenyans have barely been excited by pronouncements by government officials, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga, that the country is venturing into nuclear power generation. But the government is pushing on with the idea and is already doing the groundwork for what is apparently one of its most ambitious projects outside Vision 2030.

The Ministry of Energy is currently working on a Cabinet paper, which is expected to be ready for discussion by end of January. “It is a government policy to diversify our energy sources. We have agreed that we go nuclear (in power generation) and we are totally committed to that,” Energy Permanent Secretary, Patrick Nyoike, told the Smart Company in an exclusive interview on Friday.

This is understandable given that, besides diversifying the sources, nuclear energy would boost the country’s installed power capacity that stands at 1,300MW, including temporary emergency power of 286 MW.

However, with a peak demand of 1,000MW and growing at an annual rate of 8 per cent, the system is currently supplying about 1,200MW, revealing the precarious situation of the country’s power supply, which is also heavily reliant on rain-fed hydropower.

The situation recently plunged the country into a two-month long, nationwide power-rationing programme, which was lifted only last month after diesel generators were brought in.

The nuclear programme is critical to the government’s ambition of doubling the number of Kenyans accessing electricity by connecting a million new electricity consumers in the next five years as part of the its move towards Vision 2030, which seeks to make Kenya a middle-income economy.

Harnessing for good use

Yet, by adopting the nuclear technology, the country could be sucked into the global geopolitical controversies where the US and other Western governments are currently embroiled in a war of words with the likes of Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programmes. “We want to harness nuclear power for civil and peaceful uses, which is now universally accepted globally,” Mr Nyoike said.

This follows an industry trend where new players, mainly fast growing economies, are leading the pack. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are 436 nuclear power reactors in operation – supplying about 15 per cent of the world’s electricity – five are in long-term shutdown and 53 others are under construction.

While the US leads with 104 reactors, 28 of the 53 reactors under construction are in Asia. More specifically, 17 are in China, which not only plans to build 34 more, but is also proposing to build 90 extra reactors.

But Kenya is not China and that explains the scepticism that has greeted the government’s quest to go nuclear by questioning the country’s capacity, both technical and financial, to pull off out such a sensitive project. “It is a good move because it is a cheaper option in the long-term. But I don’t think the country is ready,” says Dr John Akoten of the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research, a Nairobi-based independent think-tank.

He singles out financial costs, the capacity of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to policy environmental resources utilisation and the government’s ability to man the country given its porous borders. “How are we going to fund it?” wonders Dr Akoten.

Commenting on the defeat of an industry-sought “Construction Work in Progress” repeal in the legislature of the US state of Missouri this year, Mark Haim, chair, Missourians for Safe Energy, said: “New nuclear plants are far too risky and expensive to attract investor funding. Utilities will only build them if they can transfer the risk to the taxpayers or their ratepayers.”

However, the Kenya Government remains upbeat. It believes that, under a public private partnership arrangement, it can attract potential investors with both technical and financial capabilities in the wake of the increasing global drive towards clean energy.

Its preliminary studies show that South Korea has the ideal and fairly cheaper nuclear technology, where a reactor with a capacity of 600MW could cost about Sh155 billion ($2.1 billion) compared to US and European versions that could go for Sh200 billion ($2.7 billion).