Presidential approval for nuclear in Ghana : Nuclear Policies

02 September 2022

A declaration from President Nana Akufo-Addo transfers the Ghana Nuclear Energy Programme Organisation (GNPPO) from the Ministry of Power to the Workplace of the President.

President Akufo-Addo pictured on the COP26 local weather change convention in 2021 (Picture: Presidency of Ghana)

The GNPPO was shaped to supervise the implementation and coordination of the nuclear energy programme following a 2008 cupboard determination to incorporate nuclear within the vitality mixture of the African nation. Ghana subsequently declared its intention to pursue a nuclear energy programme for peaceable functions in August 2013, by way of a letter submitted to the Worldwide Atomic Power Company (IAEA), the Presidential statement stated. An unbiased nuclear regulatory authority and a challenge firm – Nuclear Energy Ghana (NPG) – have been additionally established.

The Ghana Atomic Power Fee (GAEC), by way of its technical institute (NPI-GAEC) with assist from different nationwide our bodies, has met all of the Section 1 nuclear infrastructure necessities really helpful by the IAEA’s Milestones strategy, the assertion added. IAEA Built-in Nuclear Infrastructure Evaluation missions in 2017 and 2019 “concluded that Ghana has glad all of the prescribed research for presidency to make a educated dedication to a Nuclear Energy Programme,” it stated. The research and actions undertaken in Section 1 of the nuclear energy programme have been consolidated right into a Programme Complete Report (PCR).

“I, hereby, announce and instruct the Minister for Setting, Science, Expertise and Innovation (MESTI) and the Minister for Power (MoE), in collaboration with the Chief of Employees on the Workplace of the President, to take all the required steps to maneuver the Ghana Nuclear Energy Programme Organisation (GNPPO) from the Ministry of Power to the Workplace of the President, to reinforce correct coordination among the many key establishments already established,” the President stated. GAEC and NPI-GAEC will proceed to assist the GNPPO on the Workplace of the President following the realignment.

The declaration additionally stated that the federal government has adopted the content material of the PCR “as a mirrored image of nuclear energy infrastructure points within the nation”,  and dedicated to “proceed their transparency, adherence to the strict requirements of security, safety, and accountability within the peaceable makes use of of nuclear expertise and proceed with its efforts to implement the nuclear energy programme within the subsequent phases of the programme by utilizing nuclear expertise to generate electrical energy to speed up nationwide improvement and industrialisation.”

In keeping with data from World Nuclear Affiliation, Ghana’s Minister of Setting, Science, Expertise and Innovation in 2021 stated 5 distributors – from the USA, Russia, Canada and South Korea – had responded to a request for curiosity in serving to the nation construct its first plant, with an expectation {that a} contract for a 1 GWe plant can be signed someday in 2024-2025. The USA earlier this yr stated it’s supporting Ghana’s adoption of small modular reactor expertise underneath the US Division of State’s Foundational Infrastructure for Accountable Use of Small Modular Reactor Expertise – or FIRST – programme.

Researched and written by World Nuclear Information